solstice
by momtara
Summary: Mysterious forces enchant Mako Island and, with the moon pool destroyed, Rikki is skeptical when Zane vows to restore its magic. Legend has it that the fates of all mermaids are intertwined; will this prove true when all are reunited to spend their last summer together? Or can their mistakes ever truly be mended? Zikki.
1. inspirit

The café is more alive than she has ever seen it. Throngs of high school graduates fill the chairs and stand on sore heels to watch the band play. They sway to and fro with their summer stretched in front of them, the sea breeze wafting through Rikki's and filling the air with the scent of freedom. Rikki drinks and laughs and mingles with her fellow graduates, teasing Will who stares at his girlfriend onstage with an embarrassing mix of awe and concentration, the atmosphere electric as the sky grows inky black.

Pride swells in her chest as she eyes the happy customers, their smiling faces and loud chatter filling the café. She quashes the feeling, however, once she remembers that the café is no longer hers. Making her way towards her friends, she wonders if she is imagining a pair of eyes on her from behind the counter, and does not dare to look and confirm her suspicions.

"It's good to have you back, Lewis." Rikki grins as she takes a seat. "How long will you be attached to Cleo's tonsils?"

Lewis chuckles in response. Since his return from university abroad, his girlfriend had hardly left his side, much to Rikki's amusement. "Well, I'm off now until next semester," he says. "I'll probably stay for, hmmm, at least a few more hours."

Cleo giggles at his jibe. "I'd hope so," she laughs, leaning in to brush her lips with his once more.

"Cleo!" Rikki cries. "Can I talk to my friend, please?"

She disentangles herself reluctantly, grumbling under her breath. "He's _my_ boyfriend," she says into her fruit smoothie.

Looking towards the crowd again, Rikki absentmindedly twirls her straw in her drink. Pairs of her now-former classmates dance to a slow number played by the band. She seems to search for him without realising, but for once he is not there, and she forces herself back to the conversation, chastising herself for her own naivety.

"Hey, you guys will never believe who I ran into in New York," Lewis says. He turns his phone towards the girls, who gather around it to peer into the screen. They recognise her almost immediately, standing with one arm looped around his shoulder, as they pose with matching grins at Times Square.

"No way!" Rikki sings.

"Emma!" Cleo says, turning to Lewis with a flash of indignation in her eyes. "You didn't tell me."

"I wonder why," Rikki mumbles. "The guy's hardly had a chance to breathe since he got back."

Cleo rolls her eyes, but otherwise chooses to ignore her friend's comment. "Has she any plans to come home over the summer?" she asks.

Lewis casts his eyes away unsubtly. "Uh, no, not that she mentioned," he says.

"I see you didn't learn how to lie any better in the States?" Rikki teases.

He still refuses to meet her gaze. "Pardon?"

"Lewis," Cleo warns. "You wouldn't lie to me, would you?"

"I'm not lying!" he insists, before conceding defeat with a sigh, returning his phone to his pocket. "Fine… she'll be home in a week. But you didn't hear it from me!"

Rikki grins and resists the urge to squeal in glee. "You're kidding!"

"For how long?" Cleo asks. Lewis mimes zipping his lips, but her smile only grows wider at the thought of seeing her friend, her sister, _Emma_ again. "This is amazing!"

They pause to cheer the band. Bella gives a small bow on stage, the applause reaching a fever pitch before the music starts up again. "Yeah, she would not shut up about Mako when I saw her last," Lewis says. "I know she's dying to get back to the moon pool."

Rikki's heart drops. "That might be a problem."

"Why, what happened?" Lewis looks between the pair, searching for answers, and an unspoken conversation passes between them.

"It's a long, Zane-related story…" says Cleo with a grimace.

"Zane?" Lewis echoes. "He told me he was going out to Mako an hour ago."

Somehow, Rikki's heart sinks further into the floor. She is on her feet before she can even register the movement, a mix of anger and grief and disappointment fuelling her, feelings all too familiar when it comes to Zane Bennett. Barely aware of her friends' protests as she mumbles a response, she makes her way towards the café's exit as fast as her legs will carry her.

"Rikki—" Cleo protests, but she is gone long before anyone can stop her.

* * *

The first time that Rikki returns to Mako, she goes alone. Her home and her safe space is ruined. She is called to this place irrevocably, this place that gave her faith and magic and family and more than she ever thought could be possible. It had always been easier for Rikki to swallow the lump in her throat than to truly face her feelings, but the havoc wreaked in the moon pool, her _home_ , is nothing short of devastating. Innumerable rocks and debris are scattered on the ground, and where her tail once stretched to meet only seawater are piles upon piles of rocks. The cave walls are demolished, and even the floor juts out at unnatural angles, deep fissures embedded in the stone. In short, it is in ruins.

Still, the second time she visits, the moon pool nonetheless holds its enchanting beauty. She surfaces and lets out a breath, leaning against the edge of the pool to hold her head in her hands. Pure white light filters through the vent, starlight illuminating the water, as well as a shadowy figure in front of her. He is cramped with his knees to his chest between two broken rocks, a toolbox by his side, scrawling messily on a notepad.

"I can't believe you, Zane." Rikki's tone is scathing, but he does not seem to be listening, his eyes remain on the paper. "After everything you've done to this place you'd really come back and—"

"Nice to see you, too," he mumbles.

She snatches the pad from his hands. "What's this?"

"What does it look like?" Zane retorts.

Rikki frowns. The page is filled with messy diagrams, bullet-pointed lists, doodles and inkblots and crossed-out sentences. It is messy, even for him. Zane's handwriting has always been impossible to decipher, but she squints and manages to make out a few words: _clear debris — need wheelbarrows; repair fissures in ground?; waterfall?_

"It looks like plans to fix this place," she realises aloud.

She plants her hands on the edge of the pool to lift herself out. Even with years to grow accustomed to her tail, the weight of it is staggering, and she frowns in concentration. At this Zane leans toward her and gently pulls her from the water. The intimacy of the act is enough for her to cast her eyes away as a flush creeps up her cheeks.

"You want to tell me what this is about?" she asks as she balances on the unsteady ground, closing a fist to steam her tail dry.

Zane lets out a heavy sigh and scans the caves. "I know I've hurt this place a lot," he says, "and I know nothing can make up for it, but at least this is a start."

His tone seems almost genuine as he rakes a hand through his hair, and she ponders this as he looks around, mentally noting the mess he left with that geologist and that… Rikki scoffs and shakes her head.

"So this is how it's gonna go?" Rising on two feet again, she places her hands on her hips, levelling her stern, unwavering gaze on him. "You mess up, fix it, I forgive you, and you never actually learn anything?"

"What?" he cries. "No, of course not. Mako is important to you, to all of you, and…" Zane stands to gaze at the rock wall, his face paling almost imperceptibly. A stream once trickled down the rubble, a waterfall with magical properties, but not anymore. "This is my fault."

Her brows draw together in suspicion. "What's in it for you?"

"Nothing!" assures Zane.

For the first time since their awkward exchange earlier in the night, Rikki truly lets herself look at him. He stands mere feet from her, the moonlight illuminating the sincerity plain on his face as he holds her stare, but the look in his eyes makes her want to run. Makes her want to stay. She does not know which would be more dangerous.

"If this is one of your games, I'm not playing," she says cooly.

He opens his mouth to protest, snapping it closed just as quickly, measuring his words for once. "Look, if you want me to leave, I will. This is your place after all." She raises a brow skeptically. "But I can't tell you how sorry I am for everything. I just want to fix it."

"You can't," Rikki growls, her icy eyes blazing with intensity. "We're over, Zane."

He further closes the gap between him, and she folds her arms cross her chest. "Rikki... I want to fix Mako," he says softly.

"Wait, so you're not trying to get me back?" Rikki confirms, taken back almost to the point of offense. There must be some ulterior motive...

Zane's sarcastic smile is infectious. "I know, I was surprised too. As if I could do something good without looking for anything in return!" he says.

"Well, what if I don't want you here?" Rikki argues, turning away from him to wander around what is left of the moon pool. She takes care not to trip up on the fallen stone and begins to wonder, against her better judgement, if it is possible to restore the magic here.

"Then I'll leave." He leans against the wall, crosses his arms. "But it'd be a real shame, after I decided to sell the café and everything."

"You're selling the café?" she snaps. "Why?"

He shrugs noncommittally. "Because I need the money to fix this. Besides, that place has too many bad memories attached to it. Good memories, more like," Zane adds, more to himself than to her.

"This is insane." She searches his face with a sideways glance. "Have you thought this through, at all?"

"Yeah. I made a diagram, see?" Zane reaches for where she discarded the notepad, turning a few pages before handing it back to her. The diagram is at least somewhat clear, arrows connecting the various tasks: _sell café, kill Sophie, fix the moon pool, grovel to Rikki until we're 40_.

Rikki smirks in spite of herself. "Kill Sophie?"

"She's been getting on my nerves anyway," he laughs.

She shakes her head for the umpteenth time and begins to pace once more. "You definitely _are_ gonna be grovelling to me for the next twenty years," she says under her breath. "Particularly if you want to stay here all summer."

"Then let this be the first apology of many." The tension between them is palpable as he dangles the proposal in front of her. He wonders if she can hear how loud his heart beats in his chest when he meets her cool blue gaze. "So, what do you say?"

It takes a moment for her to concede, defeated, with a sigh. "Well I'm not letting you do this alone," she says. "I won't have you mining for moonstone behind my back."

He looks affronted, but nods. "I deserved that," says Zane.

"How long do you think this will take?"

"A couple months, at most." Zane looks upward toward the volcano's opening, and the black sky seems close enough to touch. "It'd go faster with more people working on it."

"Emma is coming home soon, Lewis is here, Cleo and the others…" There is a slight probability, the smallest chance, that this could work. This sliver of a possibility is big enough for Rikki to leap at the opportunity. No matter what, the moon pool is special, and she will do anything to restore the magic here.

He seems to have read her mind. "It's doable," he says.

When she turns to him once more, she has to resist the urge to stand on her toes to reach his height, holding her hips with a stern look. "But you're not selling the cafe," she orders.

"Rikki…"

"Don't 'Rikki' me," she says. "I'm not having you throw away all our hard work."

He pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Then how are we gonna fix this place? We're flat broke. We can't even afford to run the café as it is, let alone any of this mess."

Her eyes stray to the walls of the cave. She makes a decision, a hasty one at that, but one that might just work. "We'll sell the crystals, like you were going to."

"If we mine anymore it'll be the end of Mako." His gaze fall to her neck. She plays with the moonstone, an offering. "No. You can't sell yours."

"I'll get Cleo on board, too," says Rikki, ignoring his comment. "Then you can keep the café open."

" _Rikki_ …"

Rikki knows that she can argue him out of this as she stubbornly sets her jaw. "My name is still on that lease," she reminds him. "I have a say in the café, too. I say it stays open."

Zane appraises her, standing there a whole head shorter than him with her narrowed eyes and furrowed brows and stiff posture, and his heart tells him that she has won. "Alright. Let's make this clear: we keep the café, fix Mako, I grovel for a few decades… no strings attached, no secret ploys, not ulterior motives." He salutes theatrically. "Scout's honour."

And then she says the most wonderful five words.

"Fine. Now, where do we start?"

* * *

a/n: hello everyone! thank you for joining me on the zikki journey. i cannot tell you how excited i am to be finally be sharing this with you guys! this is my first h2o fic and i hope you all enjoy. these notes are gonna be all over the place but to summarise, season 3 made an ooc mess of zane (and various other plot points but…..….. i digress) and the only way for me to remedy that is to write this yoke. idk who that dude in season 3 of h2o was, but it sure as hell was not zane Bennett. zikki forever yall

real talk, i have no idea how earthquake damage repair works, as well as anything science-related, so im just gonna improvise on the front. honestly the damage didnt seem too bad, given the amount of fics ive seen that claim the moon pool never returned to normal, so i exacerbated some of it for storytelling purposes. i will be calling the moon rock/crystal stuff 'moonstone' for simplicity's sake also.

ooo fyi, this is not going to be will/bella endgame. sorry! i dont dislike them but i just want to take this thing in another direction. I know its a super popular ship but there are better, more realistic things to come. thats all ill say for now!

thank you thank you thank you for reading. i love writing this, i love reviews and i love you a whole bunch for even getting this far!

9797856543298 kisses,

A xxxx


	2. try

"So you're telling me he mined Mako for moonstone with a pair of strangers, one of whom was a geologist, the other a girl he kissed, all so he could save his stupid café?"

Truly, it was only a matter of time before she and Emma would butt heads on _something_.

The reunion between them had been blissful until now. Lewis had driven them to the airport, pockets overflowing with packets of tissues for the girls, and even Rikki shed a tear at the sight of her friend as the three embraced. Emma had beckoned Bella into the group hug upon not twenty seconds of meeting her. They quickly made each other's acquaintance, bonding over the inexplicable sisterhood all mermaids share. Then the four of them had chatted for hours about everything and nothing at all until it came time to discuss the moon pool. Now, as the the morning crowd begins to filter through the café, Rikki bites her lip and gazes into her cup anxiously.

"It sounds worse when you put it like that." Emma frowns skeptically. "Ok, it was pretty bad but, Rikki's is really important to us. Still is.

"Us?" she echoes. "I thought there was no us anymore?"

From the corner of her eye, Rikki notices Bella and Cleo sharing a doubtful look, before they look the other direction lamely. "You're right," she says to Emma, ignoring the pair. "And I would have told him to take my name off the lease, but…"

She narrows her eyes. "But?"

"Look at this place!" Rikki cries.

As she lets her eyes wander around Rikki's, Emma has to admit that it is a far cry from the Juicenet. The café's decor is stylish yet homely, with happy customers gossiping over smoothies and grabbing their morning coffee. Nate exercises his questionable keyboard skills onstage in preparation for tonight's gig. A handful of waiting staff grimace at the cacophony as they mingle with the regulars. The sea is close enough to smell the salty air, yet the scent of fresh fruit and Cuban coffee and greenery fills the café. It is far from perfect, but it is a dream for Rikki, due to and in spite of its owner.

"I put so much work in to make this ours," she says. "I can't just throw it away."

Emma still seems hesitant. She reaches for the white locket back in its place around her neck and weighs her options before she replies. Unlike Rikki, she is always guarded and cautious when it comes to Zane. "I don't know about this," she says.

"Me neither," Cleo agrees. "What's in it for Zane?"

"Guys, believe me, he just wants to make things right," Rikki insists. "I'm mad, too, but Mako is more important than some dumb boy with too much money."

When she is met with silence, Rikki has to remind herself of the importance of this. After all, their home is at stake. "He's pouring all the profits from the café into fixing the moon pool. Doesn't that count for something?" she asks.

Bella crosses her arms. "It's gonna take a lot of work. The place is pretty busted."

She sets her cup on the table resolutely. "Then we'd better get started," says Rikki. "Who's with me?"

Cleo is the first to surrender under her friend's stare. "Fine!" she concedes. "I'll call Lewis."

"I'll do it for Mako," says Bella with a sigh.

She turns her hopeful gaze on the final member of their group. "Em?" Rikki pleads.

"Ok!" says Emma, throwing her arms up in melodramatic defeat. "But I'm not happy about it."

Rikki grins widely. "I know you're not," she responds with a squeeze of her friend's shoulder. "Now let's go."

* * *

"Oh…"

The four mermaids reach the moon pool a few hours later. They rise from the water and Rikki steams them dry, but Emma hardly notices as the water evaporates from her skin. After almost a year, the moon pool is nothing like she remembered it. Debris and rocks litter the unstable ground, its uneven slabs meeting the edge of the moon pool. The cave walls that rise inconceivably high are destroyed, and the air is heavy with dust and decay. Anger is a knee-jerk reaction for Emma, but she never expected to be so grief-stricken upon her return to Mako, and folds her arms in front of her chest to stop herself from falling apart.

"I didn't know it was going to be this bad," she confides in her friends.

"I'm so sorry, Emma." Bella places a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I wish we could have stopped it."

She gasps quietly when Emma suddenly places a hand over hers, holding tightly with a thin smile. Her lips seem to quirk up of their own accord. Bella can't help but grip her hand a little tighter as something passes between them. The others, however, are less preoccupied. Cleo is still as afflicted by the state of the moon pool, while Rikki silently wonders just how the others will cooperate with Zane.

"It's ok," Emma says. "We're going to fix it, together."

Cleo kicks a stray stone into the water. "At least now Zane's going to pay for what he did."

"It wasn't _just_ Zane, remember?" Rikki reminds her.

Bella snorts. "If you want to tell that geologist we're mermaids, be my guest," she adds. "I'm glad to be rid of him."

"Too right," Rikki says. "The guy was a nightmare." She bends down to examine the moon pool, recalling the others who were present then, the fear and suspense and hope her makeshift family shared the night of the comet. "At least Sophie is going on holidays with Will for the summer."

Bella joins her to peer at the water. "Not the _whole_ summer. They'll be home in a couple of weeks."

Cleo joins them, a mischievous glint in her eye. "You miss him?" she asks.

"Not really...it's strange," Bella says. "I thought I'd miss him more."

"I sure don't miss his big sister, anyway," Rikki tells her, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the mere thought of Sophie.

"Can't say I disagree with you."

Rikki turns as his voice echoes around the caves, and the sound nearly causes her to jump out of her skin. "Zane!" she shouts in alarm. "What are you doing here? We said one!"

He laughs in that way he does, the way that seems only reserved for her; it is not his loud, obnoxious laugh, accompanied by the plastered fake smile he gives to customers, but a softer, deeper chuckle that she feels in the bottom of her stomach and the soles of her feet. "Nice to see you, too. I thought I'd stop by early and make a start," Zane replies. "Besides, I ran into—"

"Lewis!" Cleo sings. She makes his way to Lewis' side, and Rikki has to look away when she leans over to kiss him on the cheek. The casual intimacy is painfully familiar.

"It's suddenly a little crowded in here…" Emma folds her arms across her chest as she stares pointedly toward the pool's exit.

"We don't need all these people here at once," Rikki says, more than happy to offload some of the heavy tension in the caves. "Why don't you take the night shift, Em?"

Bella tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. "I can come with you, if you like?" she asks.

"Sure." Emma's grin falters when she turns away from her. "Zane, I would say it's nice to see you again, but that would be a lie."

He purses his lips in a flat smile. "Nice to see you too, Emma."

With a parting grimace the pair dive into the moon pool. In a matter of seconds, their legs have transformed to tails, and they swim away together. Once they are gone, the silence among those left is abrupt and palpable. They shuffle awkwardly and wait for someone, _anyone_ to break the tension. Zane gulps when all eyes fall to him.

"So!" Lewis exclaims. "You wanted to show us your plans…"

Zane rummages through his pockets. Brandishing a stack of crumpled papers, he uses an expensive-looking pen to point at his disordered plans. "We'll start by clearing up the debris from the cave and the pool. I'd say we'll need a few wheelbarrows for that," he says.

Lewis nods along, his eyes narrowing into slits as he attempts to decipher Zane's handwriting. "We'll need to level out the floor somehow and fill in the cracks with sand or cement or something…"

"What about the cave walls?" Cleo offers. "Maybe Bella could solidify some seawater there to hold the wall in place."

"No, that won't work," Lewis mumbles with a shake of his head.

Their voices slowly turn to white noise as Rikki wonders if _any_ of this could work. Zane's ideas seem logical in theory, but there was always so much more to the moon pool than what appeared on the surface. She begins to consider the possibility that, no matter how judiciously they organise, the island's unpredictable magic will upend their careful planning. Tapping her foot impatiently, she shares a look with Zane as the others silently scorn him, making scathing comments and rolling their eyes as the afternoon wears on. Practicalities aside, Rikki muses, even the relationships confined between the cave walls are just as turbulent as the mysterious forces beyond anyone's control.

"Right now," says Zane, "the question is how we're going to get everything we need to the island."

Rikki pulls herself back to the conversation. "We can store the equipment at the café, and make a few keys?" she asks.

"We could keep them in the lockets?" Cleo offers. Gracie's necklace is on her neck once more, the blue stone glinting in the muted sunlight.

Zane nods. "I've got the Zodiac," he says, "but some of the tools we need are too big to fit down the entrance to this place."

"Anything waterproof that the girls could take from the boat and swim in with?" Lewis asks, before Cleo interrupts.

"Air bubble!" she sings. "I can create a bubble of air around the equipment and carry it through the moon pool."

"That might just work," chuckles Zane.

Lewis begins to pace around the cave, stepping over rocks and crevices, taking in the destruction of the walls and balancing precariously on the unsteady ground. "And where are you getting the money to fund all this again?" he asks, accusations in his tone.

"We sold our crystals," Cleo tells him.

Lewis starts and opens his mouth to protest. Rikki intercepts him before he can object. "Online, on the condition that no questions are asked by the buyer and they never contact us again after." She toys with the chain on her neck, Julia's locket back where it belongs. "It's all under control."

"I'm so sorry, I…"

Rikki almost laughs at Zane's sudden outburst. By her side Cleo scoffs, rolling her eyes and looking at anything but him. Lewis, too, casts his eyes away to ignore his words, though Rikki silently wonders if he even understands how sacred the moonstone is to the girls. She has to admit to the ridiculousness of the whole situation. How did they possibly get here?

Still, there is so much work to do.

* * *

"Let's get started, shall we?"

"I wonder…" R

"What?"

Not much progress had been made since the moon pool's repairment was first planned. If anything, the time spent there only proved that tension was rife between the four of them. Lewis and Zane elaborated on his plans with Cleo either offering criticism in clipped tones or turning to roll her eyes in Rikki's direction. As the couple took over organising, Zane begins to help Rikki clear away some of the debris, when she has an idea.

"If there's a way one of us could _produce_ rock," she says, incredulous.

Lewis snorts. "That's scientifically impossible."

"So is everything else they do, if you hadn't noticed," Zane argues.

With a sigh, Cleo approaches Rikki as she faces the cave wall, examining its surface. "Our powers are tied to water, Rikki," she says. "It wouldn't make sense for us to be able to control the earth."

Her mind begins to work at twice the speed, her keen imagination jumping over itself to reach a conclusion. "You have wind powers, I can make fire…" she mumbles.

"What?" says Cleo.

"Bella!" Rikki sings.

"You think she might be able to manipulate earth?" Cleo snaps, irritated as realisation dawns on Rikki's face.

"It's worth a shot." Zane turns to her, brown eyes wide with anticipation as he considers the possibility, quietly cursing himself for effecting Bella's absence earlier.

"I don't know…" Cleo says.

Zane folds his arms across his chest. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

She paces around the moon pool and clutches the pendant at her neck. "I'm starting to think there might be no hope for this place."

"Cleo—" Rikki interrupts.

"Don't be such a pessimist. We can fix this." Zane's tone is filled with clipped tones and disapproval as he holds Cleo's stare.

She grinds her teeth together, anger simmering closer and closer to the surface. "Who's to say that, even if we fix the moonpool, the magic will return?" Cleo argues.

"There's no harm in trying, Cleo," Lewis offers, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Cleo frowns and brushes him off, facing Zane with barely controlled rage contorting her features. "You're wrong," she says sharply. "The magic left for good the night you and that geologist and _Sophie_ tried to steal it."

"If the magic is gone," Rikki says, using all her strength to soften her voice, "then how come we could make the Tower of Light and deflect the comet?"

"You're seriously taking his side?" asks Cleo.

Zane pinches the bridge of his nose. "Don't be ridiculous—"

"Emma and Bella were right to leave," Cleo cries as she backs away towards the moon pool. "You ruined our home, and we never should have trusted you!"

With a final shake of her head, Cleo ignores the parting words of those she leaves behind, diving into the water. Seconds later, she is gone, and the moon pool falls silent with her absence. Quiet tension fills the air before Lewis decides to follow her.

"I'll go talk to her," he offers.

Rikki ignores the eyes that follow her as she walks towards the water. Sinking down to the edge of the pool, she hugs her knees to her chest and wonders why the urge to jump into its depths is absent. Strange, usually the call to the sea is almost irresistible to her...

"And then there were two," she says. When she turns to face him, guilt is plain as day on his face, and she feels some of it tug at her heart, too. "Hey, it could have gone worse…."

Zane shuffles awkwardly. "I don't think so. I really, really messed up…"

Rikki offers a reassuring smile. "They'll come around," she says. "If I can, so can they."

Still, he seems conflicted, wringing his hands together in dread. "Do you think the magic is really gone?" he asks, unable to hide his fear any longer.

"I don't know, Zane. I do know it's gonna take a lot of work to get this place back to normal." Rikki lays down to rest her head on her hands and stare up at the sky. At least now this is possible, she thinks, with some of the debris out of the way. The moonless night seems to reach for her through the rock, a purple sky dripping with stars that look close enough to touch.

Zane allows himself to sit but keeps his distance, a wide berth between them, as he lets out a sigh. "I can't forgive myself for this," he says, "but helping out is a start."

Rikki chuckles softly at his words. "Listen to yourself. When did you get so modest?"

"What?" he asks.

She rises, folding her legs beneath her with a fond smile. "This time two months ago, Zane Bennett would have cussed Emma out for bolting like that. You would have told Cleo where to put her 'magic' or demanded that we get back together on the spot." His expression is filled with such vulnerability, the curve of his smile so sincere and the darkness in his eyes deep enough to fall into, that she has to look away. "This new temperament doesn't suit you."

Zane snorts, but his grin does not falter. "I'm sorry. I guess I'll be more immature and selfish next time," he jokes.

He realises, too late, that these are the words that she used when… She realises, too, and snaps her mouth shut before it can fall. "That's not what I mean," Rikki says.

"What _do_ you mean?"

There is a toolshed in a lavish home by the sea, too big for love and too empty for a mermaid who never should have been. She remembers what it felt like when the café was the juicebar, when they didn't have enough time, when they had all the answers. Yes, she remembers it well.

"Someone once told me that I don't have to let the other side win," says Rikki. Her steel grey eyes flash with an assuredness that makes his heart rate accelerate. "If you don't forgive yourself for what you did here, then they won't either."

Zane mulls her words over before responding. "I'm trying not to do the whole self-righteous, arrogant egotist thing this time." His lips curve upwards. "But… duly noted."

"You don't have to be any of that, just have some conviction," she explains, looking skyward once more. "You messed up big time, but at least you thought you were doing what was right."

"When did you get so wise?" he wonders aloud.

She grins. "Time apart from you will do that to a girl."

Zane snickers and leans towards the pool to splash her with water. He fails to remember its affect on her. In an instant she is glowing with a wet sheen, her damp curls falling into her face with a mermaid's tail replacing her legs.

"Thanks, for that," she grumbles, slowly inching towards the pool as fast as her tail will allow her.

"Sorry." He helps her into the moon pool, and the familiarity of the touch is not lost on either of them. "I forget you're part fish sometimes."

"I'm gonna go make sure Emma and Cleo haven't blown a gasket," she says, heartbreakingly beautiful as she gazes up at him from the waters, so disarming that he can't tear his eyes away.

"While you're at it," he says with a gulp, "you could make a few copies of the keys to Rikki's for the others?"

"Sure," Rikki says. Of course, her own key is in Julia's locket already. "Now get back to work."

"See you," Zane murmurs.

She is sure to smack the water with her tail as she leaves, drenching him with water as her laughter fills the caves. "Later!"

* * *

a/n: happy solar eclipse everyone! i hope you kids enjoyed this chapter and thank you so so much for giving it a read. i wont usually be posting this frequently, im just a sucker for good timing (which is ironic considering how the moon phases are all over the place in this fic but, i digress), who else was a little pissed that the girls abandoned their lockets post season 2? its like the legacy of the former mermaids was completely done away with. this will come up again in a more plot-y way in the future, promise

to the anon reviewer wondering if this is going to be will/rikki endgame, i can assure you that i have no patience for them as a ship either! not-so-spoiler alert/reminder that zikki is endgame here and that their relationship is pretty central to this fic. as for bella, youll just have to wait and see !

thank you so so much for the reviews/favourites/follows etc and much love to all of you,

A

xxxxxxx


	3. faze

Rikki gazes out at the water. She is distracted from the magazine in her lap by the sunlight playing on the sea, the call to its depths urgent and sudden. It is probably a bad idea to be drinking coffee on such a beautiful day, but the café cubano at Rikki's is invigorating, and sleepless nights have made her listless. The others chatter amongst themselves as she stifles a yawn.

Cleo and Emma had subsided their rage somewhat since the recent visit to the moon pool, while the others remain more composed. Bella fawns over Emma's necklace while she tells her of the former mermaids, Cleo and Lewis offering anecdotes as they recall them. Of course, there are plenty of other cafés they could visit, but Lewis is eager to rehearse with the band for the first time since his return, and Bella says it won't be long until soundcheck. This is what Rikki chooses to tell herself, anyway.

"Full moon tonight," says Emma.

Cleo grinds her jaw and turns away from the others. "It's probably not gonna do anything now that the magic in Mako is gone."

"Cleo!" Rikki says, tossing the magazine at her in protest. "The magic is not gone. It's just…taking a vacation."

Bella nods. "Exactly. We made the Tower of Light on the same day they messed up the moon pool," she reminds her. Doesn't that say something?"

Unconvinced, Cleo begins to leaf through the magazine. "You should've seen Zane yesterday." She begins to flip through the pages with more speed. "He's so self righteous."

"Come on, he wasn't that bad," Lewis says, receiving a grunt in lieu of a reply.

"I still can't believe you guys managed to stop that comet," Emma says, changing the subject and easing some of the strain amongst them.

Bella tosses her hair over one shoulder. "It was nothing. Actually it was pretty impressive," she giggles coquettishly. The others, all except Emma, turn to one another with matching expressions and wonder when she became so flirtatious. Rikki stares into her coffee and stifles a smile.

"Well," Cleo begins, placing the magazine face-down on the table, "we started noticing the sea temperatures rising and affecting the migration patterns of the fish, and then the moon pool essentially showed us what was going to happen." Even now, she shakes her head in wonder at the thought. "Crazy, right?"

Lewis grins. "Our professor of ichthyology at the university wrote a great article on the correlation between fish migration patterns and changes in the oceanic environment."

"Can we talk about literally anything else?" asks Emma.

Rikki smirks and takes a sip of her coffee. "We're gonna have to get used to the fish talk when this one's across the pond at the Marine Biology Institute," she says.

"You got your acceptance letter?" Emma's eyes light up as she turns to face Cleo.

"Not yet," she sighs.

Lewis takes her hand. "Any day now."

"I don't know…"

"What are you talking about? They are going to love you." He begins to rub small circles on the back of her hand. "You know our oceanography department is out of this world. In fact it's rated—"

"Em!" Rikki interrupts. "You got any plans for next year?"

"I think I wanna go travelling again," Emma says, if a little sheepish.

Cleo frowns. "But you just got back."

"I know but, I have some money saved up from working abroad, and I don't know what I want to do for the rest of my life." She shrugs. "Travelling it is."

With a disbelieving look, Rikki shakes her head in amusement. "I never would have guessed the great Emma Gilbert would be so disorganised," she says. "I always thought you'd be planning your retirement at this age."

"Hey, she managed to keep a job and graduate high school, all while travelling around the world," Bella argues with a fond smile. "How's that for organisation?"

Gazing into her drink once more, Rikki wills away unwanted memories of the education system before they can ruin her afternoon. "You got me there. I barely managed to graduate even without all that other stuff."

"Very funny," Emma deadpans, her tone disapproving. "What about you, Bell? Any plans for next year?"

Bella casts her eyes away. "Nope, not unless my folks drag me somewhere else," she sighs.

"Do you think you might be moving again?" Cleo asks.

With a shrug, she begins to toy with the stone at her neck. "It's always a possibility with my parents' job. If not then, I don't know." She turns to Emma. "I was looking at interrailing actually."

"I'm dying to go interrailing!" Emma beams in excitement. "Europe is so beautiful."

"I was thinking of—"

"Eastern Europe!" the pair say in unison.

Rikki rolls her eyes. "Right so, I'm the only one staying in town?"

"Come interrailing with us?" Emma offers.

She resists the urge to snicker into her coffee. "No thank you. I've had enough of being a third wheel already."

Emma's brows knit together. "What are you talking about?"

The others, however, are unable to contain their laughter. They dissolve into giggles as Bella fixes her gaze on the sea. "Nothing," Rikki says. "Anyway I am flat broke, unless you have some moon crystal lying around?"

"Rikki!" Cleo scolds. "Not funny."

She grins mischievously. "Really? I thought it was pretty good."

* * *

Emma chews anxiously on her straw. "How are we going to get the cave walls and the waterfall fixed?"

"I don't know," Cleo replies. "Zane says we can fill in the walls somehow, but the waterfall may be done for."

With a final self-congratulatory speech from Nate, the band is finished with rehearsal. The girls applaud and cheer as Lewis and Bella return to their table, faces flushes from exertion with wide smiles on their faces. "You know, Nate's really improved," Rikki remarks. "He was almost on key there for a minute."

Lewis, carrying another tray of drinks and snacks, nods in agreement. "I'm proud of him. He's come a long way since his short-lived solo career," he says.

"How did that song he wrote for you go again, Bella?" Cleo teases.

With a groan, Bella hides her head in her arms unceremoniously. "Please don't remind me," she mumbles into the table.

"He wrote a song for you?" Emma sits upright, enlivened by the sudden revelation. "I have to hear this."

"It's so embarrassing." Her response is muffled, and Rikki pats her shoulder.

"Ssh, we've all been there."

The sound of a chair scraping the ground alerts them to another presence.

"Hi guys."

Silence.

His expression is apologetic as he meets each of their gazes individually, making certain to convey a strange mix of fear and conviction. His audience seems reluctant to welcome him, but this does not surprise him. He fidgets with the hem of his shirt and, when his eyes finally settle on her, Rikki is reminded of some cheesy quote Emma once espoused about speaking the truth even if your voice shakes. Or something. She offers a smile and swallows a warning, to him or to the others or to herself, she is unsure.

"What's happening Zane?" asks Lewis with a tight smile.

Zane gulps. "I think we should talk."

"I think that's a good idea," Rikki offers after a beat.

He rakes a hand through his dark hair, forcing himself to look at them when he speaks. "I am so sorry for any harm I have caused you or Mako. I could not be more ashamed of myself, and I would do anything to make things right with us."

Emma scowls and clenches her fists at her sides. "It was a bad move, Zane," she says. "I think we've established that much."

He rubs at his arms when goosebumps rise, and Rikki too notices the sudden chill, knows who is responsible for the cold. "Let me finish," says Zane. "I messed up big time, but I wouldn't have touched the moon pool if I thought any of this was going to happen."

Cleo looks down to stare at her hands. She looks almost...guilty, and the action is not lost on Rikki nor Zane as she nods at him to continue. "I don't expect anything from you guys after how much I've hurt all of you, but I am going to do everything within my power to fix the moon pool, not just for you but because it's the right thing to do." He takes a shaky breath to steady himself as he rambles. "I know you probably don't want me there but whether you like it or not I have a duty to ensure the future of Mako. I just hope one day you may be able to forgive me."

Rikki turns to face the others. Her friends are astounded, speechless, Emma with her mouth hanging open and Cleo with her eyes fixed on her lap while Bella offers a sheepish smile. When even Lewis pretends to be deeply preoccupied by his phone, Rikki knows her plan has been a success.

"In the meantime you can grovel for a few decades," she says, quietly enough so that only Zane can hear.

* * *

Rikki is staring at the plastic stars tacked onto her ceiling when the phone rings. The cat purring on her chest growls in protest as she stirs. "Time to move, Gramps," mumbles Rikki. Gramps leaps to the window, making chirping noises at the birds, her whiskers illuminated in the moonlight. Rikki laughs at the spectacle and answers the phone. "Hey, Cleo."

A beat, and then she receives a response. "Hey. Have you heard from Emma or Bella tonight?"

Rikki snorts. "Nah," she says. "I'd say they're hanging out."

"Without us? And on a full moon?" she asks. "Not cool."

She reaches out to grab the cat from the window, shoving Gramps onto her lap before an inelegant struggle ensues. "Are you alone tonight?"

"No," says Cleo. "I'm with Lewis."

Though her naivety has waned in recent months, she can't help but admit that Cleo's almost childlike innocence is an endearing quality; all the flirtation, the giggling like schoolgirls, the little touches and seemingly casual compliments between Bella and Emma went right over her head. "Exactly," Rikki says.

"What do you mean exa— _oooooh_!" She can practically hear the cogs turning in Cleo's head as she understands. "You think there's something going on with them?"

"No, I _know_ there's something going on with them."

"How can you tell?" Cleo asks.

"I'm the fiery one," Rikki reminds her. "You know, passion and heat and all that."

Rikki swears she can hear Lewis' laughter in the background. "Please don't ever say that again," Cleo says, sounding audibly horrified. "What are you up to tonight?"

Gramps begins to knead on Rikki's top, and she grimaces when her claws break the skin. "Gramps…" she scolds. "Might go for a swim, probably head to bed early. I'm on the morning shift tomorrow at Mako."

"Rikki?"

"Hmm?"

Cleo huffs out a breath. "Be careful."

"I'm always careful," says Rikki, and now she knows it is Lewis laughing.

"Good one!" she deadpans. "Call us if you need anything."

"Will do."

* * *

The moon is at its highest point in the sky when her legs carry her to the pier. She can feel its energy as it courses through her veins, and she knows in this moment that she is something more than human. The sky is orange with heavy clouds and punctuated by stars. The ocean is alive even as the clock strikes midnight. She swears she can hear a siren's song somewhere in the distance, entrancing her with its spell, the aroma of smoke and sage assaulting her senses.

And still she walks. The air is warm as bathwater and filled with static as if preparing for a rainstorm. Her heart pounds against her ribs yet she feels a sense of calm, like she is meant to be here, here where a camera has lied at the bottom of the surf for decades, here where its owner first learned the truth — but it feels like a lifetime ago! — here where he is.

Yes, here where he is.

A figure is silhouetted against the water and the trees beyond. The moonlight flickers like a candle on the water, gold on black, and she wonders if it could be the rays of the sun; but no, that couldn't be possible.

She reaches him at the end of the pier. Sinking down next to him, her voice is as soft as windchimes as she speaks. He, too, breathes her name, a caress, a sigh falling from his mouth.

Zane leans into her kiss, and this is the last thing that Rikki remembers.

* * *

A/N: hello everyone! is there a department of ichthyology at some esteemed marine biology institute in the us? is there any correlation between fish migration patterns and changes in sea temperatures? is there going to be any scientifically accurate information in this fic? the answer may surprise you!

one thing that always pissed me off about the show was that zane never really apologised to everyone for, you know, everything. so i did a catch-all apology here. dude could stand to say sorry more if ya ask me, esp in season 3

the inclusion of rikki having a chirping, kneading cat named Gramps is an entirely self indulgent headcanon of mine. you gotta deal with her antics now, sorry i dont make the rules

Love love love love,

A xxxxxx


	4. homage

"You kissed Zane last night?"

The moon pool is changed. While the question of its magic is still a mystery, Cleo and Lewis had managed to remove most of the rocks scattered at the bottom of its depths the previous evening. Now they sit in a wheelbarrow by the cave's entrance rather than clogging up the bottom of the pool. The girls have plenty of space to stretch their fins as the moonless sky illuminates the cave, their home away from home slowly but surely returning to the way it once was. Rikki wonders how much things have truly changed as Emma gapes at her, awestruck.

"Yes, alright?" she responds.

"I can't believe this."

Bella smirks. "I can."

"What happened after you kissed?" Cleo, ever-practical, asks.

Rikki scratches her head. Trying to recall the events of last night is proving to be more difficult than she imagined. It must have been the moonlight. "I swam away… I think."

"You swam away?" Emma balks and tries to prevent the smile that pulls at the corner of her mouth.

"It was the full moon!" Rikki argues, before hesitating. "Probably…"

Three mouths open to speak in unison, but Cleo is first to do so. "The last time the full moon was out, it didn't do a thing to the moon pool or any of us," she says.

"You still like Zane, don't you?" Bella asks with a smug look.

"Of course not."

Emma rolls her eyes with a smirk to match Bella's. "You're a terrible liar."

"I want to say I was wrong about Zane," Cleo ponders, "but he's let us down so many times…"

"You have nothing to worry about anyway because we're not getting back together."

Bella, ignoring Rikki's advice, turns to Cleo with a quizzical expression. "I don't know, I mean he did get in Will's boat and stop everything happening at Mako." She combs her fingers through her hair absentmindedly. "That's gotta count for something."

"True," Cleo admits. "And he's working really hard to fix the moon pool."

"Guys—"

As if Rikki is no longer present, Emma interrupts her complaint. "I don't think Rikki should trust him just yet, at least not until this place is fixed."

She pinches the bridge of her nose. "It doesn't matter anyway because—"

"But I mean if he kissed her…" muses Cleo. "That's a good sign."

"Do you guys want me to leave?"

Bella sighs deeply. "Under the full moon and everything. How sweet is that?"

"I didn't know you were such a hopeless romantic," Emma says, and Bella blushes red.

Rikki spots her opening as, finally, their conversation halts. "I was actually going to ask for your advice," she explains, "but I see now that my only option is to skip town and join the circus."

"Wait!" Cleo drags her back by the arm as she begins to leave. "So you guys kissed. What now?"

"What do you want to happen?" adds Emma.

"I don't want to get back together, that much I know." Rikki is hardly convincing herself, let alone her friends.

"Was it a good kiss?" Bella asks.

"It was a very, very good kiss." Rikki bites her lip. "This is a terrible idea isn't it?"

To her surprise, Emma interjects, her good sense superseding her contempt for Zane. "I hate to say it but without Zane's help Mako would be done for. If you guys start anything up again it could just complicate things."

"But you're gonna be seeing each other every other day," Cleo reminds her. "Chatting, flirting, touching…"

"Making out in the moonlight," giggles Bella, receiving a splash in protest from Rikki.

"I should just talk to him about all this."

"Good idea," Cleo agrees. "Get open, get honest."

Emma nods. "But not too honest," she adds. "I want this place back to normal."

"Try not to swallow each other this time," says Bella.

The three girls dissolve into giggles, and Rikki resists the temptation to hit her head against the rocks. "Thanks guys," she says. "You've been a great help."

"Bye Mrs. Bennett!" Cleo calls to her as she swims away.

* * *

Zane chews on the end of his pen and wonders how easy it is to contract ink poisoning. The thought of his demise at the hands of something so arbitrary seems preferable to the day of work that lies ahead of him. Hundreds upon hundreds of emails remain unopened in his inbox, stacks of paperwork sitting on his desk, meetings to confirm, customers to serve, finances to organise, hands to shake, and smiles to return.

And all he can think about is her.

He resigns himself to the fact that little work will be done today as he rubs at his temples. It was difficult enough to get anything done when Rikki was here as his partner, but with her on his mind and not in his field of vision, as well as double the workload, even the smallest of tasks seem like an insurmountable responsibility. The café hasn't even opened its doors when he is certain she will not leave his mind; the moonlight playing in her hair, the smell of the ocean brine, the trance in her gaze, the way his name tastes in her mouth—

"Hey."

Zane snaps out of his reverie. She is beautiful as ever, stiff and sheepish and pulling on her hair in that nervous way she does as she closes the door behind her. He had hardly noticed Rikki's entrance, too busy daydreaming of her, and he takes a second to reflect on the absurdity of that before responding.

"Hi," mumbles Zane. He gulps anxiously, preparing himself for the worst, as he always seems to do when he sees her nowadays.

"Got a minute?" Rikki asks, hovering by the door.

He stands and moves toward her, but leans against the desk with his arms folded. "Sure, yeah," he says.

"Listen, about last night…"

"I'm sorry." Sweat beads on his forehead when he realises he has interrupted her. He seems to have no filter around her; she disarms him so that the words escape his mouth before he can stop them. A second apology is on the tip of his tongue before he notices her expression.

Rikki takes a step towards him with a bemused look on her face. "What are you sorry for?" she asks.

"For kissing you last night." His tone implies that this is an obvious statement of fact, but her brow furrows further, and so do his as he begins to wonder what really happened between them.

"I kissed _you_ last night."

Zane is not about to pick a fight with her after their long-awaited truce. He shrugs and perches at the edge of his desk. "Alright," he admits with a smile, "if you say so."

"You were sitting down by the docks, I came over and kissed you." Rikki replays the scene in her mind. Although the memory seems distant, she is certain that this is how it happened. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Because that's not what happened," he says. " _I_ kissed _you_."

She shakes her head and reflects on why she even bothers to reason with him. "Why do you have to be so difficult?" she asks.

"Who's being difficult?"

"You know what? Fine." Rikki levels her unwavering gaze on him. "You did kiss me. Why I would ever want to kiss someone like you in the first place is beyond me."

Dismay flickers across his face, and she thinks she may have imagined it, but still feels awkward as she paces around the office. "Blame it on the full moon anyway," she mumbles.

"The full moon." Zane's eyes drop to the floor. "So you didn't actually want…"

"Hmm?"

He purses his lips. "Is this about Will?"

It is a beat before she responds. She prays he is joking, waits for his laugh, but it never comes. "You've got to be kidding."

"What?" he says.

"I can't keep having the same argument with you, Zane!" she cries.

Her words hover between them, salt poured in old wounds that are not quite as healed as they think. She thinks of her friends' earlier words. It all sounded so simple then. His dark eyes are filled with confusion when she looks at him, and she knows she must appear just as puzzled, a thousand questions plain on her face.

How did they get here?

Rikki swallows, once, and takes a breath to compose herself. "I thought this could work, us being friends, but you have the nerve to ask me about some boy ages after we've broken up."

"Hey, you're the one who wants us to be honest with each other," Zane reminds her.

"I am being honest with you," she says through gritted teeth, "but you're being impossible."

He laughs, but it sounds more like a warning. A warning not to go where she is about to go. "How am I being impossible?" he asks.

"Because you're the one who kissed someone else!"

Yes, the old wounds are pried open.

"That's not the same."

They are bleeding out on the office floor.

"Exactly," she sighs. "It's worse."

"Rikki, wait…"

She thought it was over. How wrong she was.

"Go tell it to Sophie."

* * *

She would never want to worry her friends, but isolating herself is practically second nature, so Rikki dives into the sea without a backward glance and swims until she feels that her lungs will give out. Draytons Reef is filled with vivid coral and bright seaweed that sways with the waves, and she admires the wildlife as if it is her first time swimming with dolphins or watching the stingrays chase the clownfish. She is sure to avoid the moon pool. After all, they could be there, and she can hear their incessant questioning already. She would have no answers for them. As she lets the waves carry her toward the shore, Rikki tries to think of nothing at all.

She almost visits _their_ place, but stops herself just in time.

When she returns home, she sees that countless missed calls and text messages have accumulated in the hours since her absence. Rikki does not have the heart nor the energy to answer to a single one. The messages grow less lighthearted and more anxious the longer she ignores them. As the waxing moon begins to rise in the sky, her eyes flutter close in exhaustion. Sleep evades her, however, a memory creeping into her mind like the first chill of autumn.

It was just before he graduated. They were wandering around Mako, chatting about what they might do after school. She tossed a few ideas around, half-baked plans of opening a shop or a record store, university at the very bottom of her list. Besides, what could be more fulfilling than living as a full-time mermaid? Little did she know, this seemingly innocuous conversation would result in him buying the café for them… for her.

He had teased her, of course, about her time at the Juicenet. Still, he looked at her like he truly believed in her. She smiles at the memory before her face falls. Squeezing her eyes shut, she wills the thought away, but still sleep refuses to come. She remembers how the sky grew heavy with clouds, the smell of him on his jacket as he draped it around her shoulders, the touch of his hand as they tried to find shelter together.

That's when they found it.

Rikki wipes the moisture from her eyes and wonders why she and Zane never told another soul about the sun pool.

* * *

a/n: hello everyone! thank you so so much for reading. so i know canon contradicts this but i headcanon that zane is a year ahead of rikki in school, graduating at the end of season 2 and thus opening the cafe at season 3. sorry canon, practicalities overrule you

thank you especially to geohen for reviewing! I guess that the moon crystals only generate the power of moonlight when two of them touch. i reckon that cleo and rikki were smart enough to sell them separately, and not sell them to any known geologists/other scientists, but hey, could be a future plot bunny there! (im lowkey imagining that nate bought them and goes around unknowingly causing electricity blackouts everywhere. hes honestly one of my fave side characters just for his stupidity) i know writing that they sold the moonstone in the first place is entirely self indulgent of me, the author, but i hate how they gave up the lockets in favour of those ugly plasticky blue yokes so hey, here we are. will something come up for bella in the future? Winky emoji

enough of my rambling and i will see you guys next chapter for more melodrama and angst, probably!

So much love,

A xxxxx


	5. change

It is late in the afternoon when Rikki returns home the following day. She had texted the girls, of course, giving them a brief summary of the squabble at the café. When an array of follow-up questions were asked, as she had guessed they would, Rikki thought it best to turn her phone off. Since Cleo was working at the marine park, she and Lewis spent the afternoon at Mako together. He was more than happy to avoid questions of boy-related drama in favour of distracting her with bad jokes and useless scientific anecdotes while they worked. Rikki was grateful. She certainly needed the distraction.

"Hey, Dad!" she greets as she shuts the door behind her, approaching the cat to tickle her under the chin. "Hey, Gramps."

Rikki's father braces his hands against the kitchen counter, gazing out at the sea with a frown. He had hardly noticed when she came through the door. "Something wrong?" she asks.

"Where have you been all day?"

She flops down onto the couch, pulling Gramps onto her lap despite her growling. "Out with the girls," she answers nonchalantly.

"Out?" he snaps. There are accusations in his tone, a flush beginning to creep up his neck, and Rikki swallows anxiously.

"Just at Mako."

"Huh." Her father's eyes are transfixed on her, grey as dark storm clouds, and she shrinks under his scrutiny. "You seem to be spending a lot of time there lately."

Rikki casts her eyes away. "I guess," she says, and instantly regrets the brusque tone of her voice.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Not that I know of?" she says.

Every fibre of her being is telling her to bolt, but when he pins her under his gaze she has nowhere to run. Backing down is simply not an option with her father. Still he seems to understand how to push all of her buttons, say all of the wrong things, make the most scathing comments until she snaps. The last thing Rikki needs now is another argument, she thinks, as he brandishes an opened letter with her name on it.

"You know you haven't gotten your payslip from the café in weeks," he says, and the mere inflection in his voice is enough to exhaust her.

"Probably because I don't work there anymore, Dad," she sighs.

"What?"

Searching his face, she looks for signs of disingenuity, finding none. "I told you," she reminds him with a sigh. "I ended things with Zane."

He curses under his breath. "Rikki…"

"I swore I told you…" She wracks her brain, and is sure that she did.

And yet.

He decides, "you're lying to me."

"Why would I lie to you?" she wonders aloud.

His knuckles turn white as he grips the countertop. Rikki begins to worry for the fate of the cheap marble knock-off, and envies Gramps as she springs out of her arms and toward the window with ease. "So you're unemployed now," he snarls, "is that what you're saying?"

"So are most people my age, if you hadn't noticed. It's not a big deal." He opens his mouth to speak and she knows he is seeing red. "I'll figure something out, you know that."

Her father begins to pace around the kitchen. There seems to be little method in this, other than to stomp loudly on the floor and pretend to look through the cupboards, slamming doors and banging the drawers shut. She flinches as the sound reverberates through the small space. "What did Zane do, huh," he says, "that was so bad you had to throw away your future?"

Rikki frowns. "What are you talking about? Relationships don't work out sometimes, Dad." She knows there is little hope at changing his mind at this stage, and that her best option is to leave and let him cool off before she is on the receiving end of the worst of his temper. "I don't want to talk about this right now."

He grabs her roughly by the shoulder. "Come back here," he snaps. When her to face him his expression is filled with such disappointment that she has to look the other way. "Zane has a future, a business, he could have supported you. Do you know how hard it is for people like us to get ahead?"

"I know you're just trying to look out for me," she says, more to herself than to him, "but some things are more important than money."

He scoffs. "You're unbelievable."

"Dad—"

"What, did he not do his fair share at the café?" he interrupts. "Cheat on you? Did he raise a hand at you?"

"Of course not!" she cries.

With a shake of his head, her father turns away. "I can't believe you. After everything I've done for you!" he growls. "Do you know how many sacrifices I had to make… feeding you, putting clothes on your back, a roof over your head, getting you to school?"

Rikki rolls her eyes. It was really only a matter of time before she would snap. "Congratulations for meeting the basic requirements of parenting," she deadpans. "Would you like a medal?"

"You… !" His voice is laden with disgust as he stares his daughter down. "When did you turn into your mother?"

There are no winners when it comes to them, she thinks, only a pattern that she can choose to repeat or choose to leave with him. She decided long ago that her own children will never know what she has known. She is closer to the door now, close enough to take the few steps and stalk past him with a smile.

"I wish I was more like Mum," Rikki says. "At least she had the guts to leave."

* * *

She knows that she should probably reach out to someone. However, Bella and Emma are trying to sneak around and she doesn't have the heart to let them know just how unsubtle they're being, while Cleo is probably still at the marine park. Rikki decides instead to go to the place she knows she will feel at peace.

They first found it nestled in northern Mako, far from the moon pool yet close to the sea. The rock formed a natural cave that bowed above the stream. A waterfall poured through a gap in the cave, and the pool below was blue and clear as seaglass as they climbed over the rocks to get a better look. But it was so bright! The sky above was silver with the rain, yet the gap at the top of the cave filled with golden sunlight so blinding that she had to shield her eyes.

"How is it doing that?" she had asked, taking down her hood. Even the rainfall avoided the place. Somehow, only fresh seawater filled the cave. The sun pool was strange and mesmerising, and so impossible that it baffled even a mermaid as she and him clambered over the rocks.

Now, Rikki reaches the surface and lets out a breath. The sun is setting outside, but it is still bright here, the sun pool warm and alive with light. Here it is always midday. There is simply no room for darkness between these walls. It is peaceful, as magic as it ever was.

She can feel his presence before he speaks.

"Hi."

"Hey." She swims towards him to lean against a rock and meet his apologetic gaze. "Listen—"

"Please, let me…" Zane runs his hands through his hair and stares at a spot on the cave wall. She can tell he is trying to concentrate by the dent made between his brow as he frowns, remembers a time when she teased him for this little idiosyncrasy, the wrinkle just like a punctuation mark. "I was being a real jerk there. If I'm being honest I was a real jerk for the duration of our relationship."

Rikki pulls herself up to sit by him on the rock. "Took your time to realise," she murmurs.

He barely stifles a sigh, otherwise choosing to ignore her remark. "But it's not fair for me to get jealous about you and Will when Sophie kissed me…" The furrow in his brow deepens. "When me and Sophie kissed when we were together."

It is a long time before she responds.

"No, it's not fair, is it?"

Zane turns to face her. He seems different somehow, though it's barely been a day since she last saw him. There is something new in his expression that calls to her more than all the oceans in the world, a kind of sincere and warm remorse that she cannot understand. His eyes are as deep as the bottom of the sea as he speaks.

"I'm sorry," he says.

She looks away. Sunrays pour through the gap in the cave bright as spun gold; how does it _do_ that? "In the interest of honesty, I wasn't delighted about Will's advances either," Rikki admits. "I don't think he really liked me, but it seems that whenever I save some dumb boy from a certain watery grave they just follow me around like a puppy."

When he laughs, she could kick herself for the wave of relief that washes over her with the sound. "Okay, I never did that," he chuckles.

"I beg to differ. You practically stalked me after we broke up."

He cocks his head to the side. "We spend more time together now than we did then."

"There's a difference between unwanted stalking, and two people willingly hanging out together," she says.

"Did…" He hesitates as his smile falters. "Did I really upset you that much?"

It would be far easier for her to lie, far less complicated to shrug it off with a laugh and a nudge or a roll of her eyes. She feels she owes him, though, for being so un-Zane-like, so she swallows her pride and forces out the truth. "It was hard seeing you," admits Rikki in a small advice. "I just wanted you out of sight, out of mind."

Reactions flicker across his face in quick succession, sadness and discomposure and understanding, before he settles on a playful smile. "I'm pretty hard to forget. Did you know I have my own café?"

Another wave of relief hits her, and the grin reaches her face before she can stop it. "Zane…"

"I named it after my ex," he continues with a laugh. "Some people take issue with that, but I think she's alright. She's part fish, you know."

"Part fish?" Rikki echoes. Her mouth is agape, but the corners are still pulled up into a smile. "Cheers for that."

"Fine, mermaid!" he concedes.

Her body shakes with laughter, and she clings to the rock to keep steady, its stones embedding themselves in her skin. "You know you were less stalker-y during your mermaid hunter phase."

Zane shrugs. "Not my finest hour, admittedly," he says with a smirk.

In years to come, Rikki will look back at this moment and realise that he was the beginning and end of everything. If not for him and his stolen spark plug there would be no mermaids, no friendship, no magical powers; no scientists to run from, or secrets to keep, or moon pool to fix. She would never have found her family, or set a forest on fire, or realised that sometimes you have to let something to go get it back.

For now it is enough to know that magic, the magic of change, is possible.

* * *

a/n: hello it is i your local cheeseball. really really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! i hope yall like the introduction of the sun pool and all that it will entail. could it possibly have some plot relevance in the future? youll just have to wait and see winky emoji

a review of two would make me very very happy but much love regardless,

A xxxx


	6. equinox

"Do you believe in destiny?"

They had been sitting in silence — a soft kind of silence, amicable rather than awkward, the kind to watch the sunlight pour through the gap in the top of the cave and fail in their tries to think of a place they would rather be — long enough that her tail has dried into legs again when she asks.

"No, not at all." He pauses, twisting his mouth. "What makes you say that? In the interest of honesty, of course."

Rikki smiles to herself as he nudges her in the ribs. "It's nothing," she says. It would be so easy, she thinks, to reach out and take his hand and pretend they could ever be anything more than friends. Too easy.

"You're not as good of a liar as you think. At least, not with me," Zane adds under his breath.

She reaches for the locket on her neck. "Did I ever tell you about the former mermaids?" she asks.

"Ms. Chatham and her friends, right?" He skims a stone into the water. It creates ripples on its still surface. "You have Julia's locket."

Rikki nods, remembering. "Julia was meant to be a lot like me," she explains. "Hot-headed, passionate, stubborn. She used to date this guy named Karl."

"Karl?"

"He was a real hot shot, rich and kinda snobby," says Rikki. "But Julia adored him."

He narrows his eyes, lost in thought. "What's that got to do with destiny?" Zane asks.

"Forget it."

"No, Rikki…" He reaches out, abruptly, to take her hand. She starts at the way he holds her gaze, his expression filled with sincerity and confusion as his stare remains transfixed on her. With a gulp, he squeezes her hand. "I want to know."

When she finds herself weaving her fingers through his, she knows she is done for. "He wanted to catch a mermaid," she mumbles. "When she told him the truth about her he almost exposed her, if the other girls hadn't gotten there in time."

For once, Zane is rendered silent. It is a while before he can bring himself to reply.

"Oh."

Rikki draws her hand away tentatively. "Julia was heartbroken. She was never the same after that."

He stares into his lap and nods in understanding. "You think…I'm like Karl," Zane realises. "That I can't keep the secret."

"I want things to be different with us, Zane." What she really wants is to dive into the water just feet away and pretend that this isn't happening, but he does not deserve that. He deserves the truth, or at least a diluted version of it. "Max and Ms Chatham are only just getting back in touch. The others died and she didn't even get to say goodbye! I can't imagine that happening to me and the girls."

"It doesn't have to!" he argues. "You have a choice here, you know."

There is a past that Rikki refuses to repeat, she thinks. If only she could understand it. "Gracie and Max were crazy about each other, just like Lewis and Cleo. But Emma…"

She trails off, and Zane can't help but smirk at the way she pouts her lip. "You think she and Ms Chatham have something more in common?" he asks.

"Maybe," she sighs. Rikki opens the locket. Julia never thought to putting anything in it, clearly not the sentimental type, so Rikki catches her key to the café when it falls into her lap. "All I know is, if we're destined to go down the same path as them, I'm ready to jump in the moon pool during the next planetary alignment."

"What?"

Rikki smiles. "That's how a mermaid gives up her powers, for good."

"Oh," Zane says. "You'd give it all up, just so you could stay friends forever? So Lewis and Cleo could be happy, and...?"

His sentence hangs in the air between them, unspoken, directionless.

"Yeah, I would. Becoming a mermaid is the best thing to ever happen to me, but it's not worth it if…" Rikki can understand, now, how Julia felt. The secrets and the lies and the betrayal all accumulated, and she was never the same again after Karl. Still she bites her tongue against what she is about to say, something she should not let herself even think, and decides to change her tone instead. "What am I talking about? The best thing to ever happen to me is Will. I'm so glad we're having this torrid love affair behind Bella's back."

Zane tries to hide the smile that plays on his lips. "I'm gonna get you for that."

"Come get it." She dives into the water before he can move, her tail stretching about behind her as she leans against the rocks. "Did you really believe there was something going on between us?"

"Yes!" he insists.

"I thought you had more respect for me than that," she says. "Will's nice and all, but…"

Zane runs a hand through his hair. "He's _too_ nice."

"He's like a labrador," she agrees.

"Or a golden retriever."

"Definitely a puppy, anyway." Her expression is warm and affable as she gazes up at him from the water. "I like 'em with a bit more bite."

He grins mischievously. "Fish bite."

"You want me to set you on fire?" she asks with a matching smile. "I can do that, you know."

"I'd like to see you try." Rikki holds her first in front of him, unfolding her fingers like the petals of a flower. Flames flicker steadily in the palm of her hand. "Woah! You're getting good at that."

She closes her fist with a shrug. "Who knew the fish could get fire to do her bidding?"

"You're full of surprises," he chuckles. Zane wrings his hands together, suddenly anxious, casting his eyes around the cave as he speaks. "Hey, do you remember when we first found this place?"

Rikki rolls her eyes at the memory. "You dragged me out here even though it was like, raining diagonally."

"I kept you dry, didn't I?" He shakes his head. "It was pouring down outside, but…"

"But no rain got through," she finishes. "There's something magical going on here, Zane."

"I know."

His watch glints and catches her eye, and she reaches out to tilt its face towards her. "Shoot, we gotta get to the moon pool."

Zane balances precariously on the rocks, climbing toward the darkness falling outside. "Alright," he calls, voice echoing around the cave. "Don't let destiny catch you on your way out."

"Real funny!" she says as she swims away.

"I'm considering a career as a comedian."

"Don't quit the day job!"

* * *

"Well look who finally decided to show up."

When Rikki reaches the surface of the moon pool, everything has changed so rapidly that she gasps before finding her voice. She is now free to stretch her tail out in its waters, all of the rocks and debris that once littered the cave collected in wheelbarrows. While Cleo and Lewis sit by the edge of the pool, Emma and Bella recline close together in the water. Pulling herself from the pool to avoid their questioning glances, she smiles at Zane as he enters the cave, steaming her tail dry while she leans against the rock wall.

"Sorry guys, been busy…" she mumbles in response to Bella's remark.

"Oh?" Lewis asks. "Trouble in paradise?"

Rikki purses her lips. "Drop it, Lewis."

When she turns to the others, though, they hide their laughter behind their folded hands. Even Zane is snickering to himself, a twinkle like a secret in his brown eyes. Rikki rolls her eyes and succumbs to the smile playing on her lips.

"The place looks great," she says, and is grateful when Cleo replies, distracted from the apparent hilarity.

"Yeah, I reckon we're about halfway done."

"Easily," Bella agrees.

Emma beams at her unabashedly. "We'll definitely have this place back to normal by the end of the summer," she says.

"And it's all thanks to this guy right here," Lewis says with a nod toward Zane.

When Zane turns to her Rikki is struck by his earnest expression, how he wrings his hands together in that nervous way that seems reserved only for her. He is almost sheepish when he finally speaks. "Hey, if it weren't for my meddling the moon pool wouldn't have gotten so messed up in the first place," he says, meeting her eyes now, a tsunami crossing a sandstorm. "I think we have Rikki to thank."

"Me?" she asks with a frown. "Why?"

Zane shrugs with one shoulder noncommittally, looking into the water again. "Because even after everything you still let me help this place."

Her smile is as instantaneous as it is inevitable. "What can I say, all the hard work and grovelling suits you."

"I'm serious!" says Zane. "I'm lucky you even considered—"

Emma interrupts them with a roll of her eyes. "Okay, you guys are in love, we get it!" she exclaims. "Me and Bella actually have something to tell you."

"I think," Rikki says, her smile unwavering, "we can all guess what _that_ is."

Emma merely sticks her nose up in the air at the jibe. She lifts herself from the water and beckons Rikki to help her dry her tail. As Rikki steams the moisture away, Emma looks at her with a quizzical expression, a smirk on her lips. A silent exchange takes place between the pair, but by the time Emma makes her way to the wheelbarrow at the edge of the caves, she is none the wiser about what took place between Rikki and the boy whose dark eyes lingered on her a little too long.

"I noticed that, actually," says Lewis. "What is it?"

Emma holds out her hand as the others stare in silence. The crystal fits neatly in the centre of her palm, the colours reflecting in the waning sun, golds and peaches and pinks like a dazzling sunrise. It is clear and irregular but beautiful, emanating a kind of magic that mesmerises the group as they gather around the stone.

"Bella found it when we were clearing out the debris at the bottom of the moon pool," says Emma.

Cleo, agape, reaches out to touch the crystal. "But it's nothing like the moonstone," she murmurs. "It's like the opposite…"

"That's what I was thinking." Bella shakes her head in wonderment. "I've never seen anything like it."

"It's beautiful," says Rikki as Cleo hands the stone to her.

"Can I've a look?"

She passes the crystal to Zane. "Do you recognise it?" Rikki asks. "You do know a lot about expensive shiny junk, after all."

He examines the stone, the cave's limited light bouncing off the crystal and making golden reflections on the walls. "It's not something I've seen before," he admits. "And it was just at the bottom of the pool, with the rest of it?"

"I say you try use your powers on it, like with the other crystals," suggests Lewis.

Rikki scoffs. "Are you crazy? We have no idea what that thing will do!" she says, appalled at the thought of experimenting with the mysterious stone. "Besides, we've just started to get the moon pool back to normal. I'm not having it wrecked again because of some crystal."

The others murmur in agreement.

"I say Bella should keep it."

Her expression is incredulous when she turns to Emma. "Me?" Bella squeaks.

"You did find it, after all," Emma says. "You could make one of those pretty necklaces with it. You _are_ the jewellery expert around here."

Bella blushes, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, and Cleo returns the crystal to her. "So you found nothing else out of the ordinary down there?" she asks.

"Nope, just this."

With the moon pool almost back to normal, they while away the rest of the evening reminiscing on everything that had taken place here. Emma, Rikki, and Cleo remember the night everything changed for them under the full moon, and how terrified Cleo was to swim to the surface. With time and perspective they can laugh at the thought of Dr. Denman trapping them in the caves. Max had first told Lewis and Cleo of the love he and Gracie shared within these walls, and the three mermaids had tired endlessly here to learn to control their new powers. Bella peppers them with questions of Charlotte and the night she tried to take their tails away. The moon pool grows chillier when Emma, horrified, learns of the time that Rikki was kidnapped on her birthday, and the party that they threw for her afterward. The mermaids were pulled by the tentacle's waters to this place, drew moonstone from the rock, stopped a comet within its walls.

"It won't be long till this place is up and running again," Lewis says, slinging an arm over Cleo's shoulder, "and you can stop meteorological interference to your hearts' content."

Zane nods. "All we have to do is fill in the cracks in the cave floor and we'll be golden," he says. "Just _how_ we'll do that is the problem."

"You don't know how?" asks Rikki.

"I don't want to risk filling the rock in the traditional way," he replies with a shake of his head. "We know so little about the structure of this place, I've a feeling it could make things worse."

All eyes turn to a suspicious-looking Bella, who leans against the side of the pool, a coy smile on her face.

"Hey," she says, extending her arm. "Check this out."

Bella bites her lip, her smile falling, brows narrowed in concentration. With a shaky breath she flexes her fingers, twisting her arm this way and that as she focuses on one of the cracks embedded in the rock. All of a sudden the fissure seems to knit together of its own accord. She lets out a breath at the exertion while the others stare, dumbfounded, her measured effort suddenly repairing the crack.

"Bella, that's amazing!" Emma sings.

Cleo beams, unruffled. "You bent the earth! I knew you could do it."

"When did this happen?!" Lewis sputters.

"Just after the last full moon," Bella says, ever modest as she casts her eyes away from the others. "I'm not very good but with some practise…"

Emma's grin grows wider when she turns to face her. "You're wonderful," she assures her in a fond tone. "This is just what we need to fix the moon pool."

Rikki chuckles. "We get it, you guys are in love!"

A chorus of laughter echoes around the moon pool, but his is the loudest to her.

* * *

a/n: hello all! thank you so so much for joining me today, and now its time for rambly authors notes. whomst else completely rejects mako mermaids canon re: rikki and the other mermaids eventually losing touch? another thing i reject about canon is the girls completely forgetting their ties to the former mermaids in s3. so much wasted potential. sigh

the way i say it, a mermaid's powers are tied to the elements but still mostly affect water: cleo has wind powers and manipulates/creates water, emma can freeze water and manipulate the clouds and weather, rikki can boil water and control fire/thunder, so bella should be able to turn water to a jelly/glass-like substance and manipulate/create earth. earthbenders can bend crystal, and bella can manipulate glass in canon which is basically a purified form of earth. considering she was the one who /found/ the original moon crystal in the irish sea caves (and also found the stone here)... im rambling but yeah shes an earthbender its canon sorry i dont make the rules

just a lil heads up that the next chapter is gonna be...a lil different. but i think yall will like it. its def one of my favourites anyway!

let me know what you guys thought of this chapter and i love you very very much,

A

xxxx


	7. sun

"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth."

— Buddha

The house is silent but for Bella's humming as they sit cross-legged on the floor, a little too close to be just friends but far enough away that Emma longs to be closer. She prays that her heart will quieten its noisy percussion in her chest. Her attempts to be subtle have all but failed; her friends are no fools, and she hopes that the girl making a mess of her coffee table is too shy to notice her feelings, but prays that she reciprocates them, too.

What a mess.

Bella tries in vain to concentrate on affixing the clasp to her necklace. She can feel Emma's warmth emanating from her, though, her body a little cold, and wonders if that is a side effect of her powers or simply a side effect of Emma. Her stomach is churning as she hums a low tune. If there is a world where the moon can turn ordinary girls to mermaids, she thinks, there must be a world where she could feel the same. Right?

Emma tucks a lock of hair behind her hair and lets the question on her mind finally reach her lips. "Do you miss Will much?" she asks.

"A little," Bella mumbles with a shrug of one shoulder.

She gulps. "Do you think you'll get back together when he gets home?"

"I don't know. I don't…" Bella shakes her head. In truth, she had hardly thought of Will at all since he left with his sister. She tries to swallows the impending guilt as she fixes the pendant around her neck, just above the blue stone that sits at her throat, notices that they do not react to each other. "I don't know. What about you and Ash?"

Emma has barely heard the question, though. She eyes the crystal at the nape of her neck with a smile that seems to reach her lips before she can think to stop it. "What about us?"

"Well, you two ended things before you went away, right?" says Bella. "Do you think you'll see him again?"

She reaches out to touch the sunstone. It seems to almost glitter under the light, pinks and golds emerging from its surface in blinding flashes of colour. The crystal is almost too bright to look at, and she is more than happy to gaze at its owner instead. "I don't think so, Bell," Emma says with a sigh. "I've kind of moved on from Ash. I'm starting to think that maybe I didn't like him as much as I thought I did…"

Red heat rises to her cheeks before she can stop it. "What do you mean?" Bella stammers, her mind racing as her hand rises to her neck, seemingly of its own volition.

It would be easy, as natural as breathing, for Emma to take her hand and simply profess everything to her in a jumbled mess of overused clichés and half-baked sentences. She would tell Bella she could feel her in the air from the moment she first laid eyes on her, try to explain the way that being with her is equal parts scary and electrifying, that she would pluck the sun and moon from the sky to make her happy. The smell of saltwater and bravery and something uniquely Bella would assault her senses when their lips met, hands tangled in her golden hair as she smiled through her kiss.

But then the doorbell rings.

Emma rises to her feet with a disgruntled sigh, her fantasy shattering into pieces as she draws her hand away. With her fingers locked around the new pendant, Bella lets out a shaky breath while she watches her walk to the door, transfixed by the way she moves and biting her lip against all that she wishes she could say.

"Ms Chatham!" Emma sings. "Come in."

"I think there's somewhere we need to go." She crosses the threshold to peer at Bella with a friendly expression, but there is that mysterious glint in her eyes that never fails to make Emma feel wary. "Isabel, is it?"

Emma beckons her to the door. "Bella, this is Ms Chatham," she tells her as the other girl reaches the pair. "She was one of the original mermaids from Mako, remember? I have her locket."

She opens the clasp to reveal the old photograph. It is a weathered, black-and-white image of three teenaged girls with fishtails and wide grins. They look happy, deliriously so, and Bella can't help but smile back at their faces. She knows just how they feel.

"Right, of course!" she says, turning to face Ms. Chatham as she stands in the flesh with a far smaller smile. Bella extends a hand toward her. "Emma's told me all about you and um… Julia and Gracie, right? And someone else…"

"Max," says Ms Chatham, grasping her hand in both of her own in a way that strikes her; Bella can't help but notice just how much like Emma the older woman is. It is eerie and familiar and comforting all at once.

"Speaking of," she continues, "I think there's someone else you should meet. Care to join me for the afternoon?"

Bella turns from one pair of icy eyes to the other, but the warmth in Emma's could never be outmatched.

* * *

"So Rikki is having relationship issues with this Zane fella?" Max asks. The five of them sit around the table nursing a pot of tea— well, four of them, really; insatiably curious, Ms Chatham is on her feet snooping around the garden, stopping every now and then to examine a stray piece of fishwire or search beneath the barbecue, talking to herself as she sniffs flowers growing from the potted plants in the ordered chaos of Max's garden. To anyone else she would seem to be an old biddy losing her wits, but her friends know her better.

"Just like Julia and Karl," she mumbles, more to herself than the others.

Bella narrows her eyes. "What happened with Julia and Karl?"

"Karl was… a bit of a nuisance," Max answers, biting his tongue against a string of expletives even fifty years later. "He couldn't keep the secret, and it broke poor Julia's heart."

Ms Chatham returns to the table, gazing into her tea with a knowing look. "I think things will be different with our Rikki."

"We'll see about that," Emma retorts.

"And Cleo," Bella says, before Emma's cool temper gets the better of her, "she has Gracie's locket, right?"

Max lets out a wistful sigh, and suddenly his eyes are in a different place, a place where he chased his love through tall trees, her smile brighter than the sun and just as blinding. "Right," he says, his hands clamping around his cup of tea. "I am glad she got it back from that Charlotte. And the girl seemed so nice…" He trails off, shaking his head in wonderment.

"Charlotte, the fourth mermaid?" asks Bella.

Emma nods. "Before we forced her to give up her powers. And then you came along," she says, her smile growing softer and more affectionate. Bella laughs sheepishly, relishing in her gaze until she sees her own reflection in her eyes and has to look away in embarrassment.

"Funny you should say that," says Ms Chatham. "We had a fourth mermaid, too."

Max huffs and sets his cup down on the table. "Ah Louise, don't you think they're a bit young for this?"

"A bit young?" she echoes. "Is there some kind of age limit on love that I wasn't aware of?"

"Ms Chatham, you never told us about the fourth mermaid!" Emma says.

She smiles fondly, gazing out at the sea. "Oh, it is a long story," she sighs.

"Please?" Bella asks. "We want to hear about her."

Ms Chatham's eyes flutter closed. A thousand memories return to her with comforting familiarity, the same ones that she makes herself recall each day lest her ageing mind forgets; red, wind-whipped faces grinning as they climbed the snowy peaks; dozing in the backseat of a foreign car; the silver sky as she swam through the frigid waters of the sea caves for the first time. Her violet eyes wild with intensity, her laughter soft as wind chimes as they wove their fingers together.

"Before my final year of school," she explains, "I went travelling with my family. We went all around the world, throughout Europe and Africa, South America and…"

She trails off, and the sound of her laugh is clear as day in her mind. "It was Ireland that I met her, by the sea caves. Her name was Rose," Ms. Chatham sighs. Yes, she could never forget Rose. "She was wonderful. I knew it was love from the first moment I saw her."

Emma steals a glance at Bella, but she is enraptured by Ms Chatham's story, her obliviousness endearing as she listens intently. "That's so romantic," she gushes.

"Yes, it was, for a while." Ms Chatham casts her eyes to the sea again, a strange sadness in her voice. "We stayed in Ireland for a few months, but when it came time to leave, I simply couldn't. She was the one, you see." The former mermaid is sure to hold her chin high as she recounts the story. "So I told my parents about us and they left without a backward glance."

"That must have been awful," Bella says sympathetically.

Ms Chatham smiles wistfully, staring into her cup of tea as she continues. "We moved to England then, where it was a little more acceptable. We lived a quiet life and told anyone who asked that we were merely close relatives. We worked and travelled and did everything together. I fell out of touch with the others…"

The girls are puzzled at this, and she sets down her teacup, remembering just how naive she had been, too young and blind to see all of the love she had in her life. With time she can see her foolishness, but time did not wait for her, taking her friends before she could forgive herself. All but one.

"You must understand that, when the people you love abandon you," she says, "you'll do anything so it doesn't happen again, even pushing your family away."

Max turns to her, a smile on his kind face. "Little did she know we would have accepted her with open arms," he says.

"Yes, well…" Ms Chatham folds her arms around herself. "I did come home, eventually."

"What happened to Rose?" asks Bella.

"We lived a happy life together, and she passed peacefully in her sleep," she replies. "It'll be ten years this September." When she meets Bella's eyes, there is not an ounce of regret in her expression, only a love ahead of its time, irrevocable, all-consuming. "I am so grateful for the time that I had with her. She truly was the love of my life. I only wish that prejudice hadn't kept us apart from the rest of the world."

When Emma looks to her, apprehension is plain as day on Bella's face, and she can see the same fear reflected back at her in those pale blue eyes.

"Max, dear," Ms Chatham asks, "could you give us a minute?"

Max scoffs. "You're kicking me off my own patio?" Still he rises to his feet, complaining to himself under his breath. "This is what I get for being friends with fish…"

Ms Chatham looks from one girl to the other, waiting until Max is gone before she speaks. "There is something very special between you two. Am I right?" She reaches out to take their hands, pulling them towards one another to intertwine their fingers. Emma's pulse races when Bella squeezes her hand, and they turn to Ms Chatham with relief in their hearts, grateful to have someone else in their lives who understands.

"You do what you can to be safe, girls," she continues, "but don't underestimate the people who truly care for you. When love is real, it finds a way."

Bella wipes away a tear from her eye with the back of her hand, starting when Emma begins to trace patterns on her skin, and the two share a warm smile. "Thanks, Ms Chatham," she says, her voice thick with unshed tears.

"I dated a boy once."

The others start at the sound of Max's voice as he returns to the table. He now puffs on a pipe, unruffled by the girls' exchange as he stares at the sea with a tranquil expression. Don't underestimate people, indeed.

"Max!" Ms Chatham exclaims in surprise. "You didn't."

He nods nonchalantly. "Oh yeah. Wasn't my thing, but hey, at least I know for certain," he says with a shrug. "Women on the other hand…"

"We are pretty special," Ms Chatham chuckles, winking at the girls. "Oh!"

Emma's eyes narrow in concern at her friend's sudden outburst. "Is something wrong?"

She seems to reach for Bella almost unconsciously, eyes transfixed on the crystal at her neck above the moonstone. "May I?" Ms Chatham asks timidly.

Bella undoes the clasp and hands the pendant to Ms Chatham. Her eyes fill with tears as she examines the crystal, its lustre blinding, reflecting the rays of the sun. "Rose…" she murmurs, swallowing a cry as it rises to her throat. "How did you find the sunstone?"

"Sun… stone?"

Pursing her lips, Emma searches Ms Chatham's expression, armed with the knowledge that getting a straight answer from her is as easy as pulling teeth. "Bella found the crystal at the bottom of the moon pool," she says.

She holds the stone before her eyes and up to the light, roses and peaches dancing as it sways in the breeze. "At Mako? No, that can't be…"

Max hands her a wrinkled handkerchief from his breast pocket. "Louise," he says, "what is it?"

Ms Chatham sniffs and dries her eyes, reaching for the chain hidden under her blouse. "My Rose used to wear one around her neck, like yours." When she removes her necklace, Bella lets out a gasp. The stone is practically identical to hers, down to its irregular shape and peculiar colouring; it even weighs the same in her palm. "She found hers at the sea caves."

"In Ireland?" Bella squeaks. "I used to live there. That's where I first… changed."

"Remarkable." Ms Chatham's eyes light up, and she returns the sunstone to Bella. "That's how it happened to her, too. When we gave up our tails, we…"

Her face falls all of a sudden. Emma reaches out to grasp her hand, and Bella does the same, their eyes meeting in the process. An unspoken agreement passes between them, a conversation had without words, and in that moment neither can imagine how painful it would be to lose the other, how it would feel for the world to stop stop turning, or the sky fall down at their feet, the stars fizzling out into dust.

"Hold on a tick," says Max, interrupting their reverie. "When you met Rose, surely it was long after the planetary alignment when Gracie gave it all up. How could you have changed back if there wasn't to be another alignment for fifty years?"

Ms Chatham shields her eyes against the sun, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. It is a long time before she speaks.

* * *

a/n: oooo boy! first i would like to apologise for the length of these notes, feel free to skip my ramblings i wont judge. thank you so much for the read, and honestly i cannot tell you how blown away i am with all the reviews recently. every comment just makes my day and i cant believe how much positive feedback ive been receiving. i love you guys soooo much.

i know this one was a lil sappy in places, but im a sucker for fluff etc. for anyone wondering, the emma/bella pairing literally just occurred to me bc this universe needs more sapphic content, and when i thought about it some more i realised they are actually very compatible. ive seen too many fics/hcs where they have some contrived rivalry and its just not realistic imo. i know theyre probably not everyones cuppa tea but hey, i am merely a self indulgent gay who wants to see herself represented by cool aussie mermaids

re: louise and rose, i know im reallllly contradicting canon here lmao but i dont buy the whole 'growing apart' stuff and i think theres a lot more (read: a lot more gay shit) to the original mermaids story. so heres some shameless headcanoning. if you want to put a face to the name, younger!rose is based heavily on kaya scodelario. also ms chatham has an aussie accent in her youth, but its far less pronounced with age. dont try tell me she didnt go travelling/live abroad with her gf bc its canon! its right there in the show! i know theres that bit in season one where she talks about a husband (who she bought a boat with) who died 15 years ago but in that same ep she says no ones been on the lorelei in 23 years, soooo what im saying is if the writers can reject their own canon then so can i !

one thing i completely forgot to mention in the last chapter is my inspo for the sun pool. i did some googling and found this absolutely stunning natural bridge that acc happens to be in queensland, it has the most beautiful light filtering through and looks like it could easily be on mako. but dont be limited by my interpretations/use your imaginations!

ok, promise im done now! i love you all so so much,

A

xxxx


	8. moon

Cleo pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose, a crevice forming between her brows. "We can retrieve the heaviest boulders from the moon pool once the pulley is set to the correct angle—"

"And with the right amount of force applied to the rope—" Lewis interjects, scribbling on the notepad in front of them with fervor, their minds operating at breakneck speed.

"Of course we'll have to balance the tension force with the force of gravity on the load…"

"Have I ever told you that you're a genius?"

Rikki rolls her eyes. "You guys need to cool it with the science talk or…" The pair press their foreheads together, smiling into a kiss, and she turns to Emma with a grimace. "You seeing this?"

The four of them had gathered early at the café, kept awake only by Cuban coffee and a desire to fix the moon pool, the band rehearsing a new song about forbidden love or something equally repulsive to Rikki. She resists the urge to wave her hand in front of Emma as she deigns to reply, mesmerised by the girl onstage who blushes and stammers through the chorus. Bella's grip on the mic is white-knuckled, but Emma barely notices that she is even more anxious than usual.

With a laugh that turns into a sigh, Rikki lets her eyes wander around the café. He is behind the counter when she meets his gaze, polishing a glass that is already clean, seemingly oblivious to the customer waiting to be served in front of him. He, too, watches the scene unfold, couples fawning over one another with total abandon, a smirk playing on his lips. When he turns away with a sheepish expression, she beckons him over with a nod of her head.

"You sure you want me to sit?"

Rikki snorts. "It's your place, Zane," she says as she pulls out one of the wicker chairs for him. "You can sit wherever you want."

"Technically it's still our place," he mumbles, on his feet nonetheless.

"Fine, then I demand you sit down next to me." She pats the chair and, finally, he sits. "I need a distraction from all the romance around me, anyway."

"Ouch."

Rikki grows pale. "That's not what I…" She does not know what she is saying as something ignites between them, a firestorm buried beneath the surface, and decides to change the subject. "So…. business is good?

"Yeah," says Zane with a nod. "Ever since we sorted the debt out it's been plain sailing. I can't thank you enough for that, by the way."

She folds her arms across her chest. "I didn't do it for you, Zane, I did it for the café. And for Mako," she adds as an afterthought.

"You keep telling yourself that, love," he says in a wry tone.

Rikki tosses a crumpled up napkin in his direction but cannot hide her grin. Onstage Bella reaches a high note, still crooning about her star-crossed love, Emma engrossed with her head in her hands. Zane is caught by surprise when she inserts a 'she' pronoun into the song, eyes away from the audience with a nervous smile on her lips.

"Wow," he murmurs quietly. "Wonder what she's singing about."

"I know," Rikki responds in a low voice. "Could they _be_ more obvious? Em may as well throw her bra onstage."

He laughs, once, and his tone grows hesitant when he speaks again. "Do…" Zane sighs and schools his features. "Do you think we were ever like that?"

Rikki almost pauses to think. She stops herself, just in time. "I seriously hope not," she says. "This is embarrassing for everyone involved."

With a shrug, Zane begins to tear the napkin in his lap into pieces. "We had our moments."

"I guess," says Rikki. "At least we never wrote songs about each other."

Zane stiffens. "Ha ha."

His mechanical laughter does not go unnoticed by Rikki, who sits up in her seat, looking suspiciously at him. "Zane?"

"Hmm?"

A grin spreads wide on her face. "You didn't, did you?"

"What?" he asks, his attempts to feign innocence falling flat as he folds what is left of the napkin into a small triangle.

" _Zane_ …"

He concedes defeat, throwing the napkin on the table. "It wasn't a song so much as a…" his voice hardly reaches a whisper as he speaks. "...poem."

The laugh climbs to her throat before she can stop it. "A poem?" she guffaws, clutching her sides and attracting the attention of half of the café, who turn to see her doubled over in laughter. "Ok, now I _have_ to see this."

"Over my dead body," he says, Rikki's giggling infectious in spite of his embarrassment. "It's rubbish, and that's putting it mildly."

She wipes a tear from her cheek and tries to compose herself. "Please? I'll get you some moon crystals."

"Rikki!" he exclaims, surprised at the flippant way she speaks of the moon pool, even after everything. "You know I'm no good with all that creative stuff. I don't even know why I bothered."

She cocks her head to the side and makes her best persuasive expression. "What am I going to have to do for you to show me this nauseating poem?"

There is fire in the pit of her stomach as Rikki stares into his brown eyes, darker than onyx and soft as a black sky, the tension between them suddenly palpable. She sobers when she realises that nothing is stopping her from drowning in the depths of his eyes, falling, falling, falling into deep space as the fire reaches the centre of her chest. It brings colour to her cheeks as her pulse quickens and—

"Zane!"

Rikki would recognise that voice anywhere.

"It's so good to see you," she gushes, enveloping Zane in a hug as he awkwardly pats her shoulder with one hand. She makes a point to look at Rikki with animosity in her smile. Rikki turns away towards the entrance, beads parting to reveal a boy with a kinder smile, his eyes on one person only.

"Sophie," Bella blurts out. "You're back."

Sophie looks to her as she approaches, barely concealing her glare by baring her teeth in a smile. "Becca, right?" she says.

"Actually, it's—"

"Bella!"

Will's voice cuts through the strain amongst them. He leans down to kiss Bella, but she turns her head away, alarm and dread plain on her face. Cleo reaches under the table to squeeze Emma's hand; the reason why Bella was so anxious earlier is suddenly clear. She takes him by the arm, though, whispering something in his ear and leading him away.

Sophie snorts in derision and drags a chair to Zane's side. Its legs scrape loudly on the floor. "So, what've I missed?"

Zane shrinks away from her piercing blue gaze. He seems to shift closer to Rikki, the movement almost unconscious, but she notices, notices too the satisfaction that settles in her chest as he moves away from Sophie. "Uh, not much."

"Cool!" she sings, clapping her hands together in glee. "So I can start back this afternoon—"

"I don't think that's a good idea—" Zane interjects, but she ignores him, unruffled.

"And I really am serious about redecorating this time." Sophie scans the room and wrinkles her nose. "Nothing too drastic, just a new paint job, replace all the old furniture, and maybe we could get some of those cool centrepieces with the—-"

Zane, making no effort to hide his irritation, clenches his jaw. "I said I don't think that's a good idea."

She purses her lips. "Oh, well, I just thought since floral ornaments are all the rage this season... And Zane?" From the corner of her eye Rikki sees her reach out to touch his arm, but Sophie's eyes are on her, as cold as ice and just as deadly. "We definitely should change the name this time."

Zane's reply is instantaneous.

"Get your hands off me."

Rikki starts at the acid in his tone. She has seen him angry before —- of course, anyone within a ten mile radius of him has —- but not like this. Zane is seething, furious, and she swears she can see the smoke coming out of his ears, his face reddening with rage.

Sophie begins to rub circles on his arm. "What's wrong, babe?"

"I said get your hands off me!" Zane cries, springing to his feet. "And I'm not your _babe_. You are not anything to me, and you will not be going near this café as long as I have a say in it. You've ruined enough around here without…" He cannot help the way his gaze falls to Rikki, but she turns away as he tries to steady himself, raking a hand through his hair. "I think you should leave."

Sophie's face flushes in chagrin, half a dozen customers regarding her with uncertainty. "Zane…"

He makes a measured effort to lower his voice this time. "Now, Sophie," he murmurs, holding a hand in front of him to point her toward the exit. Relief seems to fill the café as she storms out, whispers and rumours making their way like wildfire through the small crowd, the quiet growing to something more insidious with her exit.

All is silent when she meets his eyes. There is an apology there, a certain temperance she can't quite place, yet his eyes are hard as two agate stones as he gently puts the chairs back in their places. She wonders how she looks to him, if her vulnerability betrays her plain on her face, if her mouth turns up or down, if he sees a small part of her heart rip itself away from the whole.

With that, Zane makes a decision.

"That chick has some _issues_ ," Lewis pipes up, once he has returned to his office.

Rikki is not here, though, her mind on the door of the office. "Tell me about it."

"Are you ok, Rikki?" asks Cleo.

"I'm fine, it's just…" Rikki shakes her head. Her response is given with too much haste, and she does not even fool herself.

Lewis lets out a disbelieving sigh. "I hate to say it, but…"

"Don't."

Their half-conversation is interrupted by Bella's return. She moves quickly through the room, red eyes fixed to the floor as she scrubs at them with the back of her hand, and Will is nowhere in sight. Emma reaches for her but it is too late; she is already back onstage, staring at her shoes and singing softly into the microphone.

Memories run through Rikki's head, snippets of recollections from her first time struck by the moon. No one understands, she had said, and he knew exactly how that felt. A ring of fire as their lips met, a stolen kiss that would leave him burned and bed-bound; a charred forest filled with smoke; her friends, sick with worry, begging her to wake up in the moon pool. Something weird had happened, she said, something out of control.

As Bella's sunstone glints in the fluorescent lights, an idea comes to the mermaid with the fire in her heart.

She keeps her mouth firmly shut.

* * *

The numbers in front of him seem to move around the page of their own volition, leaving his mind as quickly as they enter, arbitrary figures that fail to distract him from what took place this morning. Zane certainly had not been expecting _that_ , but a sense of pride swells in him as he recalls just how well he had handled Sophie. Sure, he had let his anger and pride ignite the argument at first, but when the time came he was… different. He had acted with maturity, been measured in his responses, and even took care to return the café's chairs with limited whinging.

It helped, of course, that _she_ was there.

Zane resists the urge to plant his head on the desk and growl into the books in frustration. He has made his mind up, after all. This is what is best for the both of them. He knows this, now.

Still he stops mid-yawn to read the incoming text on his phone from Rikki, a smile breaking out over his features. He cannot help but be relieved that things could possibly be normal between them, that a simple text reading 'see you at the moon pool? R' could be sent without him making a fool of himself (well, that point is debatable, Zane muses, as he forces the grin from his face).

'Bet you I can beat you there.'

Rikki's response is swift. 'Good one, Bennett.' He smirks and prepares to respond, but she is still typing, and he bites his lip instead, anxious for what is to come. She says, 'I'm sure you're still busy peeling Sophie off you after earlier.'

'Jealous, Chadwick?'

This time, Zane does lay his head in the books, mumbling under his breath about his own rash stupidity. When he surfaces to send a hasty apology, he sees that Rikki is typing. She writes at a glacial pace, and each second feels like an hour to him, until he finally receives her response.

'She's not really my type.'

His laugh is as instantaneous as it is inevitable. He closes the books at his desk and shoots back, 'Nice one. I'll see you soon, then?'

'See you soon :)'

* * *

"What's going on?"

"Zane." When Rikki breathes his name, it is a sigh, a prayer, a caress; he is too distracted by her to notice the obvious.

"We seem to have reached an impasse."

Lewis nods at the cave wall with a frown, and Zane almost staggers back into the water in astonishment.

The moon pool has, for all intents and purposes, returned to normal. Its ground is steady, stable and flat; where cracks and fissures once fractured the rock has been replaced by only smooth sand. There are no more rocks in the pool, no debris to trip over, and the air is easy to breathe again, no longer clogged with heavy, choking dust. Zane scarcely notices that the crevices in the rock wall should be trickling with water. He is mesmerised by what Lewis is pointing to.

On the wall of the cave, at the centre towards the highest point, is the sun.

"Oh."

The shape of a circle is indented in the wall, surrounded by six points, sunrays pointing in varying directions. It has created a gap in the stone. Zane reaches out to touch it, mapping the grooves with his fingers, and notices the strange warmth it emanates as he shakes his head in bewilderment.

"Bella and Emma were working on the cave walls all afternoon," explains Rikki. "When Bella moved away the last of the rubble…"

Zane gulps. "It's the sun."

"Keenly observed," Lewis says caustically.

"Hey," warns Rikki. "Play nice."

Zane walks to her side, crouching down to the water before sitting and folding his arms. "Maybe you need to wait for the sun to come up..?" he offers.

"The sun was still up when Bella uncovered it." Emma purses her lips and reaches for Bella's hand beneath the pool.

"The full moon?"

"I used my moon crystal with my powers to simulate the moonlight…" Bella reaches for her neck and lets out a sigh. "Nothing."

Silence fills the moon pool for a beat, mystery and vexation filling the air with their magic.

"You know, solar deities are worshipped in a plethora of cultures," Cleo says. "Maybe…"

"What, we sacrifice to the god Apollo and hope he'll fix the moon pool?"

Cleo pouts. "Lewis…"

"Sorry," he says, reaching to the water to grasp her hand. "I'm just frustrated! We've been trying to find answers all day and we still have nothing, not so much as a vague hypothesis."

"I know it's frustrating," Cleo agrees, "but we'll figure it out."

Bella nods. "We have to."

"Let's put our heads together," says Emma. "What else do we know about astrological alignments, the solar system, other celestial bodies...?"

"We've been through this, Em," Lewis replies. "With Mercury no longer in retrograde and Venus' angular orbital speed exceeding its rotational velocity—"

"English, please?" asks Bella.

"There are no similarities between anything happening in the sky and in the moon pool." Cleo cocks her head to one side. "Basically."

Rikki and Zane share a look, fear and confusion contorting their faces into matching expressions, and she has to stop herself from reaching for him.

"Anything I can do?" he offers. "There's a ton of leftover cake and pastries and other junk at the café."

The ghost of a smile reaches Cleo's lips. "You had me at cake. Lewis, can I meet you there?"

"Sure. See you, guys!"

As the pair leave, Rikki watches Zane with curiosity. He makes his way to the cave wall once more. "What were you doing when you found it?" he asks, scratching his head.

"Uh, standing," Bella replies, "using my powers…"

"No, I mean…" Zane turns to the three mermaids. "Did anything out of the ordinary happen?"

Emma snorts, exasperated. "You mean other than uncovering a giant sun mural on the wall of the same place that gives ordinary girls fishtails and helps them stop comets from entering the Earth's atmosphere?" she asks. "No, nothing out of the ordinary."

"I get it," Zane says.

Bella leans her head against her arms, looking crestfallen. "Got any ideas?"

"We'll pretty much take anything at this stage," Rikki adds.

Emma nods her head. "Please."

Zane wracks his brain for something that might help, a far-fetched theory, an implausible notion, a crazy idea, _anything_. He is at a disadvantage compared to the others, though, out of the loop when it comes to mermaid matters since he and Rikki… "I got nothing."

With a stretch and a yawn, Bella rests her head on Emma's shoulder. "Maybe we should call it a night, Em," she sighs.

Emma wraps an arm around her shoulder. "You coming, Rikki?"

She pretends not to notice the hopefulness playing on Zane's features, the curve of his smile and the way his eyes linger on her a little too long, as she turns to her friends. "I think I'm gonna stick around a bit," says Rikki. "Don't want to be a third wheel, after all."

Emma and Bella dissolve into giggles, making their way towards the exit of the moon pool hand in hand, shining together all silver and gold. "See you guys!" they call through their laughter.

"Bye!"

* * *

"Maybe we have to _do_ something for the magic to return."

The sun has long set as they sit cross-legged on the ground, eyes heavy with sleep, a different kind of sun embedded into their minds just as surely as it is carved in the wall they stare at. Rikki raises her head and turns to Zane as he yawns into the back of his hand.

"Yeah, I kinda gathered that much," he says.

She smiles. "No, I mean, maybe the moon pool is trying to tell us something." Rikki rises to her feet, approaching the sun embedded in the wall, scrutinising the indentations with avidity. "It wouldn't be the first time."

"Yeah?" Zane asks.

"Remember the comet a few months ago?" He nods, urging her to continue. "The moon pool taught us how we could deflect it using the Tower of Light."

"Huh…" Zane stands, too, and the cave's sun exudes a soft warmth beneath his fingertips. "So the moon pool has some kind of...consciousness? Hopes, desires, wishes?"

Rikki is silent as she wonders what that could possibly mean for them.

There is a stack of old magazines and newspapers sitting on the counter at Rikki's, outdated issues that Zane does not care to replace, and most customers peruse their pages as they wait on their orders. For once, a newspaper with today's date sat at the top of the pile, and Rikki had skimmed through it before a brother and sister brought a firestorm into the café. His name jumped out at her from the obituaries. Now she is tired enough to wonder if Karl ever thought of Julia after he broke her heart, if he ever felt remorse or reached out to apologise, if her tear-stained face loomed behind his eyes as he shut them for the last time.

"I've been thinking a lot about us."

His statement cuts through the silence with tenacity, and Rikki tries to stop the hope that dashes across her face, schooling her features before she answers him. "Zane—"

"No, please." He rakes a hand through his hair and swallows. "You were right about me having an ulterior motive, at least to some extent. Hell, part of the Mako plan was to grovel to you for twenty years."

Rikki's lips twitch into a smile. It seems like so long ago, now, that she agreed to help him, the resentment between them dissipating into something like friendship. A time when she and Zane could no longer be civil toward one another is nothing more than a faraway memory. Now, she is sure of what she wants.

Zane takes a breath and faces her, his night-dark eyes filled with sincerity, like the undergrowth in the darkest depths of the sea. "But I promise from now on that I'm done trying to get you back. No begging for your forgiveness, no staring at you from across the room, no flirting or jealousy or any of it. I know now that we can't possibly be together, Rikki."

The memory of those words don't seem quite as distant, however; Rikki's heart sinks as he pulls the planet out from under her.

"You were right," he continues without missing a beat. "We are far too different to make this work. Once the whole Mako thing is over, I'll leave you alone for good." He is hesitant to continue as he scans her face, but she is guarded, the anguish and pain and confusion brimming just below the surface. "I'll buy your share of the café from you, and you never have to see me again if you don't want to. But I have to see this through. Can you understand that?"

Rikki wrings her hands together. "Is this what you want?"

"It's what's best for us," he says, the lie heavy as concrete in his mouth. "You know that."

She clenches her fists together, hot anger coming to the surface, and focuses on her breathing before the fire can reach her fingertips. "Answer the question, Zane. Do you want us to never speak to each other again?" she snaps. Ms. Chatham had always said they were the most dangerous, that their fire could obliterate everything in its path and turn the world to ash and dust, but as Julia's power flows through her Rikki knows that there is something more unbearable than being burned. "Forget everything we had? Everything we worked for, the café and Mako and _us_? Do you want us to be strangers again, is that it?"

"No!" Zane cries. He closes the distance between them, laying his hands on her shoulders and peers into her sea blue eyes, ignoring the lump in his throat as the truth begins to unravel. "Honestly the thought of not seeing you every day, not seeing this girl who…"

"Who what?"

He tilts her chin up to face him. There is an inferno in her voice but he cannot bring himself to be afraid. Not anymore.

"I don't know, who gets on my last nerve, who has more kindness in her little finger than I do in my entire body, who I…" he stops himself just in time with his tongue poised at the roof of his mouth. "The thought of not being with you makes me sick to my stomach. Is that what you want to hear?"

Hot tears stream down her face.

And then, "I have an idea."

* * *

a/n: phew! we made it kiddies. sorry that one was so long, but if i split it up then we wouldnt have an even number of chapters and my virgo ass cant handle that. if you havent guessed already we're on the home stretch at this stage, and i plan for 2 more chapters. i have been so so up to my eyes with work/college etc of late, so updates may be sporadic, but i will do my best and i promise that the next couple will be of a more moderate length!

again, i would like to extend sincere apologies for the botched excuse for science in this chapter. i am shit at physics/astronomy/whatever sort of science i was attempting there and i hope i havent offended anyone. most of this is fleeced directly from wikipedia ngl

did anyone else not really buy sophies weird sort of redemption arc/face heel turn that happened in the last 5 minutes of s3? girl was def right about some things, but altogether she was a nasty piece of work and i wanted her ousted from the get go. so i made her retain her evil ways here !

on an unrelated note, you would not /believe/ how hard it is to find decent images of the moon pool from all angles, particularly of the waterfall and the cave walls in general

i am so so overwhelmed with all the lovely reviews you guys have been leaving me, you have no idea how much it means that you! im so glad yall enjoyed the last chapter in particular and the bella/emma dynamic since that was merely a self indulgent lil risk of mine. feel free to chat to me whenever via my inbox too!

So so much love and talk soon,

A

xxxxxxx


	9. truth

It had started as nothing. It was silly, really; disjointed, scattered thoughts of the sun and moon, memories of being moonstruck on Mako, fire weeping from the trees as she silently prayed to be left alone. But the idea grew, becoming irrevocable, irresistible, out of control, like setting a forest ablaze or reaching for something forbidden. It comes to fruition before her very eyes as they trudge through the woods hand in hand.

Unchanged since their last visit, it is as enchanting as ever. Its waterfall trickles through the gap that bows above the pool, clear as a starlit sky, a strange white light filling the caves like the clap of thunder seen from beneath the sea. Even with the night sky above them, they shield their eyes from the brightness, squinting as light and dark join together. Encircled by boulder stones, the air smells of peace and salt and sunlight, and she knows when she sees it that they have found the answer.

"The sun pool," he breathes. "Of course."

Rikki edges her way around the caves, getting as close as she can without touching the water, Zane a few steps behind. Something in her heart propels her forward, a knowledge unknown to her until now, and she balances on one of the stones to gaze deep into the sun pool. Those disjointed thoughts have culminated, and she is not afraid anymore.

Zane holds her shoulders steady as she stares into the grey waters. "What now?"

"I think I know what to do."

Rikki extends a hand in front of her and takes a deep breath. As he fingers curl inwards, a fist clenching in her hands, she focuses on dissipating the water beneath her. The pool begins to evaporate at a glacial pace. It drains her energy rapidly, but she persists, grinding her jaw and forcing her hand closed until all that is left is hissing steam.

She hears her name on his lips as exhaustion overtakes her. Stumbling to land on her feet in the centre of the now-empty caves, she is not surprised, but still claps her hands over her mouth, and Zane curses under his breath.

Rikki is standing in front of the sun.

Zane holds her upright as they stare and stare and stare. Six rays of light point in different directions, surrounding the shape in the centre, a perfect circle that lived at the bottom of the pool, for how long they did not know. Yes, the sun seems strangely alive to Rikki as she sways on her feet, as if she can see or feel or hear it speak to her. It is a bright star made of the same strange rock found not far from where they stand.

"Sunstone," she says, her voice hoarse. "Just like at the moon pool."

He tears his eyes away to hold her face in one hand. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." She nods, weary, and takes her phone from her pocket. "I'm gonna… let me call the others."

Zane sighs at her stubbornity, resisting the urge to carry her to the nearest cushioned surface and force her to rest. "Sit down first, alright?" he says instead. "You look exhausted."

"Zane, I'm fine…"

She cuts off her protests as he pulls her to the ground, sharing a yawn as they sit together in front of the sun. The ground is bone-dry now, and Rikki almost regrets having to call the others and direct them to this bizarre place. Her friends must be tired, too, but she has long since learned that the sea does not wait for anyone.

The silence that ensues does not go unnoticed by Zane. He inches closer to her as he hugs her knees to her chest, deep in thought, blue bruises beneath her eyes as she strains to keep them open.

"You okay?"

Rikki nods almost imperceptibly. "Yeah, I'm fine," she repeats.

"You know we can call it a night if you want," he says. "This will still be here in the morning."

A sliver of a smile is on her face, now, but she still seems pensive. "No, it's okay."

Zane cannot help but notice, even as she wills the exhaustion away, just how beautiful she is. She is almost ethereal, unreal, otherworldly as her white hair falls around her face in loose waves. Her dark lashes cast shadows on her cheeks, either unaware of his gaze or choosing to ignore it, as she chews on her bottom lip. He knows that she was never too preoccupied with her appearance, and in spite of this she is the best thing he has ever laid eyes on. This thought makes him want to fold her into his arms, to protect her, from the world or from him he does not know.

"There's just one thing I don't understand."

The sound of her voice, sharp and decisive, snaps him out of his reverie. "What is it?" he asks in a small voice.

"Do we not have a choice in any of this?" she turns to faces him, and he wonders how courage sets her blue eyes on fire like that. "Is all this stuff about fate and destiny just taking our ability to choose from us?"

He tries to imagine a world where _anyone_ could tell Rikki Chadwick what to do, and wants to laugh at the thought. "You have a choice, Rikki," he reminds her. "You don't have to fix the moon pool or any of it." His lips twitch into a smirk. "Now that you're out of school you can shave your head and flee the country if you like."

Rikki laughs at the jibe, shaking her platinum hair as she begins to feel more alert. "You think I could pull it off?" she asks.

Zane nods. "I'd miss it, though."

There is a fondness in his eyes and, when she knows that he is really saying he would miss _her_ , Rikki lays her head against his shoulder and sighs in contentment. She cannot bring herself to care about fate or destiny now, the pressure from those who could never know all they've been through, the judgement in Ms. Chatham's eyes or the sorrow in Max's voice. She is not them. More importantly, she is not scared.

"Zane…" Maybe she is a little scared after all, she thinks, her heart pounding like a drum in her chest. "I really don't care about whether or not we're a part of the universe's greater plan, or whatever."

"Yeah?"

His dark eyes are watching her closely as he listens intently. He hears her, gets her, understands her, and even after all these years it is so unfamiliar to Rikki that she has to stop the grin that threatens her features. Here in these mysterious caves on an island that turns ordinary girls into fairytale creatures, she has never felt more safe.

"Yeah, it's like…" she sighs. "I'm tired."

Zane lets his head drop against hers. His voice is soft when he answers. "Well, Mako isn't the best place to sleep, but the guys might be a while."

"No, I'm tired of…" Rikki weighs her words carefully. "Of avoiding the inevitable. I'm tired of trying to stay away from you, Zane."

His heart rate picks up and calms just as quickly. She feels more than sees Zane smile, and relaxes as he wraps an arm around her, pulling her closer to him. "Me too," he says. "Although I haven't been trying that hard."

"The thing is… I choose you." She is thinking out loud, now, saying the words as they occur to her. But isn't this always how they communicated? "Regardless of what anyone else thinks, or what's written in the stars, or how much of a moron that makes me, I would choose you over anyone else on this planet."

"Really?" Zane asks, incredulous. He beams, unable to hide his smile as he lays his forehead against hers, letting out a long-held breath. "I choose you, too. You sure the magic water isn't messing with your head?"

He taps at her temple, and she pulls his hand away, weaving their fingers together. "I'm sure," she sighs. "I guess that makes me a bit of an idiot."

"How are you the idiot in this equation?" asks Zane. "I messed up so bad, we both know it."

"You did."

Zane lets her words hang in the air. He waits for her to add something, amend her statement, but the rest of the sentence never comes. She merely stares into the caves, and he narrows his eyes in uncertainty. "So that's it?" he says. "There's no way I can make it up to you, at all?"

Rikki frowns. "What do you mean?"

"If we're going to…" He feels safe with her, of course he does, even as his heart threatens to give in and the truth comes spilling out. "I want to do this right, Rikki. I want us to trust each other."

"I do trust you, Zane," she says. "I trust that you're a complete dolt and that I look good by comparison."

He clutches his sides as a laugh wracks his chest. "Seriously," he replies, sobering when he meets her eyes. "I want to be with you, but not like this. Of course you have every right to be upset, but I don't want you to resent me, I mean…" Anxious, he tugs at the neck of his shirt. "We barely make one emotionally stable adult as it is. How are we going to make this work?"

Rikki smiles that knowing smile of hers, the one that means he's being an idiot, and she looks at him with resolute certainty. "Do you trust me?"

When his mouth falls slack into a grin and his eyes widen, glinting with hope, she knows she does not need to wait for an answer. The openness and honesty plain on his face overwhelms her and, moved by something so familiar it had long been ignored, she closes the distance between them with a kiss. It is sudden, fast as a lightning bolt though Zane has waited too long for this moment; his breath catches in his throat when he tastes her on his lips again. He recovers quickly, pulling her closer to him, feeling the warmth of her skin as she weaves her fingers through his hair. When they finally break the kiss he does not open his eyes, refusing to believe that this could be more than a dream. He feels her breath on his face, though, and lets in the light, the world slow and blue when he finally faces it.

"You kept the secret," Rikki breathes, "you dived to the bottom of the sea to get me Julia's locket, you saved me from a falling crate, you bought me a café. You made me believe that someone…" She says what she has known in the back of her heart from a kiss in an elevator in a part of town that she could never afford, with a boy afraid of heights who kept the rain away. "I love you."

"I love you, too," he says, before half a second has passed, "of course I do."

Zane wraps his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest as she lays her head against his shoulder. In the distance they can hear the waves crashing, the breeze gently shaking the trees, birds singing their nightsong as something settles in their hearts and roots itself there. Forgiveness is not easy to offer, though, and he knows he has a thousand more apologies to make before he has earned hers.

"I'm sorry…"

Rikki smiles sadly. "I know," she says, before her smile brightens. "Hey, there is one way you can make it up to me."

"Anything," he vows.

"How about my share of the café?"

His grin is huge as it lights up his face, and suddenly he seems so much more youthful, new, happy. "That goes without saying," says Zane. "Anything else?"

She tilts her head to the side thoughtfully. "A red Ferrari and a thousand dollars?"

"Someday, maybe," Zane chuckles. "For now we can worry about breaking even each month."

Rikki nods. "And," she replies, "transporting this massive rock to the other side of the island."

"Better wait 'til the rest of the fish club gets here."

"I preferred mermaid club," she says, her lips twitching at the corners.

"Duly noted."

Her eyes fall to his lips once more, but their little fraction of peace is broken by the approaching footsteps of their friends.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey," Rikki murmurs at the sound of Bella's voice. She reluctantly tears herself away from Zane, whose expression is sheepish as he looks the other way. They rise to their feet in unison and, while their friends gather with raised brows and knowing smiles, neither one fears for their reactions.

Emma snorts. "You two are so not subtle."

"You're one to talk," Rikki teases, reaching across the small distance to take his hand.

"What did you want to—" Emma cuts her sentence short as she peers over Zane's shoulder. The others, too, follow the strange golden light calling from the centre of the cave. "Woah."

Lewis balks as the sun illuminates his face. "What _is_ that?" he croaks. By his side Cleo is stunned into silence, clapping a hand over her mouth in bewilderment.

"It's sunstone." Zane's voice is solemn as their friends gather together, squinting and shielding their eyes from the brilliance of the crystal. It illuminates the caves like a star.

"Emma!" Bella exclaims, oblivious to Zane's remark as she meets her wide-eyed gaze. "This must the sun pool Ms Chatham told us about."

"You're right," Emma realises.

Rikki plants her hands on her hips. "Wait," she says, "what did Ms Chatham say?"

"So she was right about…"

"About the sunstone?" Bella finishes.

Cleo, silent until now, pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "I thought Mako was made out of moonrock," she says, confused.

"The shard from the comet that made Mako contained two different types of rock; mostly moonstone, but also sunstone," Emma explains. "At least, according to Max's hypothesis."

Bella nods and reaches for Emma's hand. "When a mermaid wants to give up her powers for good…"

"She goes into the moon pool during a planetary alignment?" Rikki says.

"Or into the sun pool during a solar eclipse." Emma is certain as she stand before the stone embedded in the ground. The other mermaids have no choice but to believe her as Bella stands by her side, the same sincerity in the set of her features.

Still, Cleo has to be sure. "The shard from the comet created the Sea Caves of Ireland, right?" she asks, crouching down to get a closer look at the sunstone. "You didn't mention any sun pool there, Bella."

Bella shrugs, as she does about most mermaid magic, knowing that it cannot be explained through science or reason alone. "We didn't stay in Ireland for too long. Maybe I didn't explore the caves enough?" she offers.

"Or maybe Mako is special," says Rikki.

Lewis begins to pace around the caves with a turbulent expression, his mind racing, desperate as always to reach a logical conclusion. "So what you're saying is," he wonders aloud, "the way to fix the _moon_ pool is by using a component of the _sun_?"

"Basically," Emma says.

"I think I need to lie down."

Cleo rubs his shoulder with a sympathetic look. "It makes sense, though. Comets are composed of rock, dust, ice, frozen gases… if the sun is made of hot gas, then it could have formed part of the comet, which broke off and turned into Mako when it reached the Earth's atmosphere." She turns to face Rikki and Zane. "How did you guys find this place, anyway?"

The couple look askance, mumbling excuses as they try to avoid the question. "We'll explain later," says Zane with a gulp.

Cleo rolls her eyes. "Have you tried moving it?"

"Nah. Thought we'd call in the expert," says Rikki, nodding in Bella's direction.

"Too busy attached to each other's tonsils?" Bella teases.

Rikki, too deliriously, stupidly, madly happy to think of a comeback, merely laughs in response. She watches as Bella makes her way to the sunlit rock rooted in the ground. With a flourish she extends her hand, turning it this way and that. She steels herself with a breath, sweat beading in the dent between her brows as she gathers all her strength to try and move the stone.

"It won't budge," she admits, defeated. "At least, not without some help."

The other mermaids share a look, doubt and trepidation being replaced by cautious hope. One by one, the girls join her. They stand together, resolutely facing the sun and lifting their arms in unison. As they combine their strange and formidable powers, their clenched fists and flat palms working in harmony, the crystal begins to move. Inch by slow inch, they raise the stone until it hovers above their heads, the cave glowing like honey in sunlight.

"It feels almost… alive," Cleo breathes.

Rikki nods in agreement. As they balance the rock in the air, she is reminded of how it feels to bend flames to her will, how the heat seems to thud with a pulse in her open hand. "Like holding fire."

"How are we going to get it to the moon pool?"

Lewis' words interrupt the girls in their awe, and Cleo unwillingly tears her eyes away from the sunstone. "Air bubble?" she offers, skeptical.

"No," Bella says with a shake of her head, "we have to do it together."

"We'll have to be careful." Zane is filled with trepidation as he watches the crystal hovering in the air. He fears deeply for the girls' safety as they twist and steady their hands to balance it. "We know next to nothing about this thing."

Emma turns from the sunstone to face her friends. "Bell, you and I can make a bubble by solidifying the water," she says, "and Cleo, you trap the air inside the bubble."

Rikki, affronted by the exclusion, snorts. "I'll carry the thing, I guess."

"You have powers over heat, right?" Bella asks. "You can help me meld it to the wall."

Running a hand through his hair anxiously, Zane purses his lips before he speaks. "Is this going to be safe?" he says.

"I don't care." Emma stares, resolute and fearless, into the eye of the sunstone. "I'll do it for Mako."

As the others nod along in silent, mutual agreement, Lewis and Zane share a look. It is seldom that they agree with each other on anything, but when it comes to the safety of the four mermaids, they have common ground to tread on. "Hold on…" Lewis says with a gulp. "I'm not letting you guys do something this dangerous."

Zane folds his arms across his chest. "Couldn't we just, I don't know, throw it in a wheelbarrow or something?" he adds.

"I think we need to bring it in this way," says Rikki.

Cleo nods at her assertion. "It feels _right_ , somehow."

"Spidey senses tingling?"

"Lewis," Cleo groans.

He cracks a smile, taking her free hand. "Fine. I trust you, just…" His smile begins to falter as his expression clouds with worry. "Be careful."

With six figures silhouetted in the light of the sunstone as the night draws to a close, the pair sit on his patio and gaze out at the sea. They pray that their successors have made the right choices this time around.

* * *

It had started as nothing, and comes to fruition as they wade the waters of the moon pool together. It had been nothing but a silly, fleeting thought, memories that rushed to her and faded just as quickly, like fire turning to ash and dust in her hands. It felt right when the words finally passed her lips. After all, with the powers of all who came before them reaching their fingertips, impossibility is so much closer to reality.

There is a better power that they possess, though, a power that is more than friendship, bigger than secrets, and stronger than anything that could keep them apart; love beats their hearts and pumps the blood around their body, keeping them alive, keeping them strong, and keeping them together. As one they move with this power, and the force of their unity is strong enough to move the sunstone, emanating golden light as it hangs in the air before them.

Beneath the water, Emma and Bella lace their fingers together, sharing a look of faith and devotion before turning to the others. Hope glows in Cleo's eyes as she steadies her shaking hands and grits her teeth in determination. Rikki, too, turns to look at her friends, relaying a sense of calm and of trust as she meets each pair of eyes. She can feel his presence in the corner of the room, he and Lewis crouching in the entrance to the caves, peeking around the corner as their hearts hammer in their chests.

It is time.

The four mermaids gather their strength, smashing the bubble that surrounds the crystal. The boys fall back to shield themselves from the shards, pieces shattering around the caves, something lighter than glass and heavier than ice splashing into the pool. They hardly notice, though, raising their arms higher to propel the sunstone forward as the moon pool begins to bubble with fervour. The indentation in the cave walls, its shape eerily similar, seems to call to the crystal. It welcomes the mermaids as they guide the sun and moon together, their strength slowly waning as, finally, they fix the sunstone into the wall.

With a blinding flash of light, the waterfall returns to the wall and begins to trickle down the rocks as the two stones meet and merge together. The mermaids sink to the bottom of the pool in exhaustion while the waters effervesce around them. As the bubbling begins to subside, however, they rise to the surface one by one and wrap their arms around each other, breathless and triumphant. They are together, they are safe, and the magic is returned to the moon pool once more.

"You did it!" Zane crows from the cave's entrance.

Rikki returns his joyful grin and resists the urge to pull him into the moon pool with her. "Who's up for celebrating?" she asks. "I know a great little café not far from here."

* * *

a/n: phew! well done if youve made it this far. i dont even know what to say at this point other than to express my immense gratutide that yall stuck solstice out for so long and left such lovely heartfelt reviews. both the sun pool and the sunstone, as well as the whole idea of fate/destiny, were always going to be central to the plot, but i like to think the story culminates in our heroes choosing certain paths for themselves. but thats all ill say on that bc i want you guys to have your own interpretation of all the magical goings on. that being said, i think things are going to be easier for zane and rikki now that theyve learned to be honest with each other and truly communicate

it was just such a thrill writing this and im so overwhelmed with all the views, feedback etc. there are honestly no words. there is one more chapter, however, an epilogue of sorts on the way very very soon! Again, thank you so so much for everything my loves

Love always,

A xxxxx


	10. solstice

"Whether you are the moon or the sun, I do not know. Either way, you guide me out of the darkness and into the light."

— Ramn Grewal

As the mid-morning light pours through the windows of Rikki's, the scent of café Cubana and fresh fruit wafting through the air, customers crowd and sway to the sound of the band's rehearsal. An array of deep sea trinkets, shells and stones and other assorted debris, is littered on the table of a diver as he examines his findings. Bella is no longer on his mind, Will suddenly realises, and he does not resent her even as he swims through the same waters in which they fell deeply in love. He finds himself looking around the café, searching for its new management, but she is nowhere to be found.

On a cheap sofa behind the closed doors of their office, Rikki tries and fails to focus on the words in front of her, finally conceding defeat as he tightens his grip around her waist. "Don't you have work to do?" she asks.

"It's written to me, too," Zane mumbles into her neck.

She scoffs and holds the postcard to her chest, making sure that he cannot read it, as he plants kiss after kiss in her silvery hair. "I'll give you $500 right now if you can tell me one thing that's on this postcard."

"I just can't help myself," he says, and she feels his smile against her cheek. "You're irresistible."

"And you're disgusting," says Rikki, though a flush creeps up her face. "Emma and Bella seem to be getting on great. They're gonna stay in Ireland a bit longer."

"Mmm." Zane rests his head against hers, hardly paying attention to her words, enjoying the warmth of her skin and the sound of her voice.

"They've met some of Ms. Chatham's old friends." Her narrowed eyes scan down the paragraph, Emma's clear handwriting and Bella's messy script describing the faraway country. "Rose's grandnieces and -nephews."

Zane purses his lips. "Hope they're not as bigoted as the rest of her family," he remarks. "Unless they haven't told them…?"

Her mouth curves into a smile. "Doubt it. When have they _ever_ been good at hiding their relationship?" Rikki flips the postcard around and holds it at eye level. "Check out the photo."

The picture is blurry and pixelated, evidently taken on a mobile phone, but what it lacks in quality it more than compensates for in content. To a stranger they would appear to be an ordinary couple, beaming in delight and photographed from the chest up, wearing matching bikinis and swimming in a moonlit cave. If she squints, however, Rikki can almost make out the fish scales mapping their chests, the history in their eyes, the strange pinkish crystals embedded in the darker rock...

"Sunstone," Zane realises. "So it was in Ireland, too, after all."

"Crazy, right?" she says. Her heart falls all of a sudden as she is overcome with how much she misses her friends. They had grown to be more like sisters to her, and without them around, nothing seems to make sense.

He notices her crestfallen expression, and smoothes her hair away from her eyes, tilting her chin upward. "Hey," he says in a soft voice, "do you ever wonder how the sun pool is going?"

"You mean in the last six months since we took all its water and magical crystal thingie?" Zane nods. "I like to imagine it's ok. It's like if I don't think about it being ruined, it can't hurt me. Does that make sense?"

Zane smirks. "Schrodinger's sun pool?" he offers, and she smiles sadly, wringing her hands together. "Do you wanna go check it out?"

"What, now?" she says brusquely.

He shrugs and wonders if his attempts to be nonchalant are working. "Why not? Don't you wanna know the truth?"

"Not while we're working, I don't," Rikki answers without missing a beat.

"Emma would be so proud of you." He searches her face for any sign that she might know, that one of the girls let something slip or that her mind, faster and sharper than his, has caught up. He knows he is getting ahead of himself, though, and his first priority is to convince her to visit the sun pool. "It would only take an hour at most. If anyone asks, we'll tell them it's our lunch break."

She tries to school her features, but is unable to stop the smirk tugging at the edges of her lips. "Don't joke about lunch," she warns.

"Noted," he chuckles and weaves his fingers through hers. "You coming or not?"

Her eyes fall to her mobile as it charges in the corner of the room. "You go, I've a few things to do here first." Rikki rises to her feet, and he stands, too, that strange, scrutinising look still playing in his dark eyes. "I'll meet you out there."

"Giving me a head start?" Zane asks. "That's hardly fair."

They share a chaste kiss before he turns to leave. "Trust me," she calls, "you'll need it!"

* * *

Rikki reclines in the leather chair, scrolling down the computer screen and cradling her phone between her cheek and shoulder. The café's email is overflowing with messages, business jargon that she is slowly but surely growing accustomed to, reputable advertisers and budding musicians, suppliers and wholesalers all vying for their attention. As a grumbled greeting sounds in her ear, she grins and sends a hasty reply.

"Uh oh," she says. "Someone got out on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

She can sense the other mermaid's exhaustion, even from the other end of the phone, half a dozen continents away. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" Cleo asks through a yawn.

"Yeah, I was never really good with the whole 'numbers' thing," Rikki replies. "Good thing we get to use calculators at the cafe."

Cleo perks up somewhat at the sound of her friend's voice. "How is that famous café?"

She lets her eyes wander down the screen in front of her; 4,387 unread messages are in their inbox, Rikki realises with a satisfied smile. "Business is good the past while," she says. "Nate's performing every other night. Did I tell you he's getting singing lessons?"

"I'd pay good money to see that."

"He's actually not half bad," admits Rikki. "Whenever he flirts with the audience they take it as a joke, so he's like a singer and a comedian in one."

Cleo snorts in amusement. "You're definitely getting your money's worth. How's Zane?"

Dumb, cocky, arrogant; funny, thoughtful, understanding, trustworthy; different yet the same all at once. None of which she could ever tell Cleo, of course, so she settles instead for, "Working his tail off, same as me. Sometimes we crash here trying to get things done."

"Sounds exhausting," Cleo says.

"But totally worth it." Rikki closes the page in front of her to gaze out the window. "Enough about me, how's the Institute?"

"I love it," she answers, and Rikki can hear the smile in her voice. "But you know that already."

A laugh shakes her chest as a memory comes to mind. "I'll never get tired of that story about the professor and the fish scale samples," she giggles.

Cleo grins. "I'm really starting to fit in here. I get along really well with my roommate, and hiding from water hasn't been as hard as I imagined."

"That's great! And you were gonna tell people you had an allergy," she adds as an afterthought. Rikki remembers how anxious she was upon receiving her acceptance letter but, with a little healthy encouragement from her friends —- and a reminder from Lewis that an allergic reaction to water was physiologically impossible, that anyone else studying marine biology with them would surely know that —- Cleo was more than prepared to attend university while keeping her mermaid identity a secret.

"Lewis has been a huge help, too, especially with studying. Some of the course material is so hard I feel like putting my head through a wall," says Cleo.

Her smile grows wider. "I never thought I'd see the day that Cleo Sertori would be freaking out over study, while Emma flits around Ireland with her girlfriend," she says.

"I miss them," Cleo answers. "I miss you, too."

Rikki sighs heavily. "I know. It's not the same around here without you and Lewis attached to each others' tonsils."

"We'll be home again in a couple of months to gross you out to your heart's content," she assures her, but the humour is lost by the cheerlessness in her voice, and the joke falls flat.

Her eyes fall to the corner of the computer screen. "Shoot," Rikki says as she reads the time. She did not wish to end this conversation on such a sad note, but the minutes have ran away from her, and it is suddenly time to face the music. "I have to go. I'm meeting Zane at Mako to check out the sun pool."

"The sun pool?" she echoes. "Is it still…?"

"We don't know if the caves are still magic," she confirms. "We're gonna go check 'em out."

"Good luck!" Cleo sings. "Let me know as soon as you know anything, alright?"

"Sure," she says with a nod. "Later, Cleo."

"Bye."

* * *

She breaches the surface, the water giving way to fresh air that fills her lungs as the sun beats down on the crown of her head. Giving a precautionary glance around the island to make sure that no one has spotted her, she sees his Zodiac at the corner of her eye, and lets her gaze rest on him as he stands on the white sands with his arms crossed. Her fear of being caught dissipates, and she swims toward him at breakneck speed, marveling at her own dumb sentimentality as she longs to be near him again.

"You're late!"

"Yeah yeah," Rikki calls, "tell it to all the other times I've beaten you here."

Zane helps her from the shore and onto the sand, her tail heavy enough to weigh her down as they reach dry ground. As she extends a hand in front of her, curling her fingers into a fist to dry herself off, she can't help but notice how strange he acts. There is something off about him, the way his eyes seem to scour their surroundings as he taps his foot impatiently, but Rikki merely shakes her head and decides that he must have their secret on his mind.

"You ready?" he asks in a puzzling tone, helping her to her feet as she stands on a pair of legs once more.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

She recalls the brevity of the situation all of a sudden, as he takes her hand in his, an uneasy silence falling over them as they walk. The sun pool had always held a special place in Rikki's heart. While the moon pool belonged to she and her friends, somewhere they shared and laughed and grew to become like sisters to one another, the sun pool was different. It was she and Zane's place, free from the judgement and preconceptions of others, the disapproving looks of people who thought they could possibly understand what they go through together. It was a place of solace and understanding and love, and in the end, it had brought them together and helped to restore its sister pool on the other side of Mako. Without it, Rikki muses, who knows what would have happened, to her or to Zane or to the magic on the island?

The past half-year without it had been challenging. It seemed easier, really, to hope that the sun pool retained its magical energy than to be any the wiser. Things were more simple if she threw herself into work at the café and pretended that _their_ place had survived. Now, as he rubs smooth circles in the back of her hand, she takes a shaky breath and silently prays that, like the moon's eternal push and pull of the tides or the change that occurred between two separate suns, the sun pool's magic could somehow be restored.

"No way."

His soft voice pulls her out of her reverie. She hadn't even noticed, too caught up in her daydreams, that they had reached the stream as she remained deep in thought. Backing away from the water instinctively, she turns to look at him, a disbelieving smile on his face as an excited flush colours his cheeks. They run, their hearts hammering as one, until they reach the outcropping of rock that bends over the water. As the stream runs into the natural bridge, it does not stop, flowing beneath the bend and filling the cave with blinding light.

She cannot help herself; she dives into the water and reaches its deepest point in half a heartbeat. Swimming to the bottom of the sun pool, she traces her fingers around the indentation left there, a perfect circle surrounded by six points. With a grin, Rikki breaks the surface once more.

"The sun is still there!" she splutters through a noseful of water.

With a chuckle, Zane shakes his head. "Of course it is."

For the first time in sixth months, she drinks in her view of the caves. They are lit golden as the sun though its mere indentation lies at the bottom of the pool. Her breath catches in her throat as she squints at the rock walls, for embedded in the stone are microscopic pieces of crystal, each one glowing brightly in shades of warm gold like honey dipped in candlelight.

"The sunstone," she says breathlessly, pulling herself onto one of the rocks by his side. "I can't believe this."

Zane is nonplussed as he faces her, radiating warmth, the sunlight falling into his eyes and turning them gold. "I can," he murmurs, brushing her damp hair away from her face. Her heart stammers and picks up again twice as fast, so she turns to her tail and focuses the heat there instead, until she is able to feel her legs again.

In the hour that races by, they talk and laugh together, revelling in the joy of being in the sun pool again. She tells him of Cleo, her love for the new life she made half a world away, and he teases her for her envy. Of course, she denies any ill will towards her friend; how could Rikki possibly be jealous, when everything she wants is right here? Zane had made small talk with Will back at the café before leaving for Mako. He seemed better, he says, diving and dating again as his sister returned to college. Will works every other day and wonders what the next chapter of his life will entail, says Zane, before he remembers why he brought Rikki here in the first place.

"Hey," he says, "I have something for you."

She narrows her eyes as he produces a small white envelope from his back pocket. "What's this?" Rikki asks with apprehension as she turns the paper around in her hands.

"Open it and see."

A beat, and then, "Zane…" she tries to hand its contents back to him. "I can't accept this."

"Sure you can!" he insists.

"I don't take charity, remember?" she reminds him, but he merely he pushes the envelope back towards her, a knowing smile lighting up his face.

"They're paid for with the takings from the café. Partially," he admits sheepishly.

She lets out a sigh. "I was wondering where all the money went."

Rikki scans the two small pieces of paper in her hands, the letters and numbers blurring behind a mist of happy tears. It is too tempting. The dull thudding pain in her heart, the aching loneliness, the sheer annoyance of being apart from her sisters could all be over soon.

She could be on a plane to Ireland just a week from today.

Zane breathes her name and leans toward her, gently beckoning her to face him, her red-rimmed eyes wide with anticipation. As he wipes a tear from her cheek, he knows in his heart that there is nothing he would not do for this girl, even if that means letting her throw away this opportunity for her own stubbornity. "Nothing else is organised yet, accommodation or Visas or anything. If you don't wanna go, say the word and I'll rip the tickets to shreds." His smile grows softer as she returns it back to him. "But I really think Bella and Emma could do with a visit."

She sees the four of them, three golden tails and one pair of legs, in a wintry pool with pieces of sun in the cave walls. "What about the café?" Rikki asks, desperate to find an excuse, _any_ excuse, to retain her pride.

"My dad hired some of his snobbiest recruits to take over while we're away," he says, and the worst part of him glows with a sense of achievement when he realises that he remembered everything. There is simply no way for her avoid this. "And I know Nate is pretty handy with a blender…"

"Zane!"

"Kidding," he laughs.

With a shake of her head she turns to the tickets once more and studies them keenly. "This is…" There are no words that could possibly describe how much this means to Rikki, not for wont of trying. "...too much."

"It's not half enough," Zane argues, contrary as always. "I was thinking we could go around Europe for a bit, take a gondola ride in Venice, see the baths in Budapest, maybe even take a trip to the States, see the Institute…" Rikki's eyes widen in alarm at his musings. "A month or two, tops," he adds, and her heart rate calms.

"Are we crazy?" she breathes. He opens his mouth, but she intercepts before he can utter a word. "If you say crazy in love I will burn you to a crisp. No lie."

"I was gonna say crazy for each other," he says, "but I like your version better."

Her face contorts in faux-disgust, and she rests her head against his shoulder. "You are... all kinds of gross."

"What can I say?" Zane pulls her closer to him, running his fingers through his hair, the smell of sun and seawater assaulting his senses. "You bring out the worst in me."

He waits expectantly; it is a long time before she finally concedes.

"A few weeks, tops," she says, her words a surrender and a victory wrapped into one, a daydream that becomes a reality. "And if our business falls apart I'm holding you personally  
responsible."

He beams. "Thank you."

"What are you thanking me for?" asks Rikki.

Shrugging noncommittally, he lets his smile fall as he faces her. "For agreeing to my... arguably injudicious plan," he says.

The words have left her mouth before she can register them. "I miss my friends, Zane," she blurts out.

"I know you do," says Zane. "The girls are like your family. It's not easy spending time apart."

Rikki leans into his chest, hears his heartbeat, a constant and a comforting reassurance. "It's like they're a part of me. Without them I feel like I'm missing an arm or a leg…" She trails off and lets the dull, heavy sound fill her ears.

"I know how that feels." She perks up just a little at the compliment. "Seven days and you'll get to see two of your sisters again."

Rikki looks from him, to the plane tickets, and back again. There is suddenly a solstice in his eyes. She imagines a different life, dirt poor, living in a cheap trailer, barely scraping by with half a dozen jobs between them. He is there, with her. Of course he is.

"I love you so much," she tells him, and there is forever in her voice, a hundred lifetimes, a thousand worlds, a million different realities, all with the boy who took the spark plug and set her heart on fire.

"I love you, too."

* * *

a/n: ta-da! thats all folks. do i have any words to express how overwhelmed i am at the reviews, follows, favourites, views, feedback, support and love ive received from all of you since i started writing? not even a little. but hey, as the great dido once said, "thank you." from the bottom of my heart *sparkly heart emoji*

we are literally far too fluffy and busy pumping endless amount of cheese into this story to worry about practicalities like, ya know, work being done in the café or how long it takes to sort out visas to another country. i hope you guys enjoyed this final installment and will's sort-of cameo anyway !

now some headcanons that no one asked for. ofc bella and emma would eventually come home, with bella pursuing her music career while emma studies to be a doctor (i always wondered what she would do until i read in a fic that being a doctor was her childhood dream and. thats basically canon). i can totally see them being gay hippies and getting into environmental rights and such in their elder days. cleo and lewis would go on to become huge names in their fields, work and collaborate together, eventually settling down to have tons of babies/be adorable. as for zane and rikki, its kind of hard to tell. i can really see zane using his father's leverage to go into politics and fight for good causes, while a big part of me sees rikki eventually pursuing a rosa diaz-esque career as a detective. she just has such a firm sense of justice, but then i dont think anything could match just being a mermaid to her. all i know is they would totally stay together and be giant cheeseballs. have you guys got any thoughts?

big big big shout out to fiesa for leaving glowing reviews time and time again, you should totally check out their genius h2o works when you get the chance/want to cry/laugh/otherwise emote/fall in love with the series all over again. so many thanks to every single one of you! i love you so so much and this aint the last youll see of me, promise !

A xxxx


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